Computational Predictions for Functional Proteins Working after Cleaved in Apoptotic Pathway

Protein cleavage by a caspase enzyme is observed in many pathways including apoptosis pathway, which induces protein modifications such as N-myristoylation. By exhaustive search of NCBI GenBank database based on the information in PeptideCutter website, we have identified a protein very likely to control apoptosis after N-myristoylation which is caused by the cleavage by caspase-8. To find more rules for sequences cleaved by caspase enzymes, we conducted computational experiments using the machine learning system BONSAI, and extracted some characteristic sequences involving serine-threonine kinase motif. This suggests the new possibility that the machine learning technique finds the significant sequence such as the recognition site of the enzyme.