A new class of antibiotics has recently been discovered, and it is composed of small, naturally occurring peptides. These peptides are produced by several eukaryotic organisms, and they have served as prototypes for the chemical synthesis of numerous, structurally similar peptides, many of which have equivalent or better antibiotic activities than the naturally occurring compounds. The rate at which new bioactive peptides have been generated far exceeds the abilities of researchers to determine the biochemical and biophysical basis for their antibiotic activities. It would be useful to have some automated, user-friendly method to compare the structures of these peptides to determine common elements that may contribute to their bioactivities, or lack of activity. It is proposed that the resources of the P.S.C. be used to develop a program that is capable of converting an operator inputted amino acid sequence into an idealized three dimensional structure, and then comparing hundreds of such structures to find common elements of structure.
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