CURATION PROCESS:

1. Retrieval of the Sequences of  Histones and their Variants:

 Sequences of histones and their variants belonging to  Homo sapiens are retrieved from GenBank database of National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Redundant sequences are removed by using online software available at “http://expasy.org/tools/redundancy/” 

 2. Retrieval of the Post Translational Modifications of Histones and their variants along with the enzymes catalyzing the same:

The Swiss-Prot database has served as a primary repository for extraction of relevant  Post Translational Modifications and Enzymes. Besides, diligent efforts have been put to meticulously mine information from literature. The references are hot linked to PubMed.

3.Structure Prediction:

The 3D structures of enzymes are predicted using the SWISS-MODEL Workspace. SWISS-MODEL is a fully automated protein structure homology-modeling server, accessible via the ExPASy web server, or from the program DeepView (Swiss Pdb-Viewer). The purpose of this server is to make Protein Modeling accessible to all biochemists and molecular biologists WorldWide. However these results are strictly non-experimental. Users are advised to read the header section of the files to know what templates and alignments were used during the model building process.  The  RCSB Protein Data Bank (PDB) has also provided invaluable tools and resources for analysis of structures. The structures of enzymes found in this Infobase can be viewed using PyMOL software.The SWISS-MODEL Repository developed  at the Biozentrum Basel within the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics has providing us with 3D structures of enzymes after automated homology modeling.

 4.FrontEnd/Backend:

The FrontEnd/ browsable web pages are designed using Hyper Text Mark Up language (HTML) which provides the user with a consistent interface. The Backend of the Infobase is designed using Structured Query Language (SQL). It is a small compact database server ideal for small, specialized applications. PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is used to design the front end of the search engine. PHP  works within an HTML document to confer to it the capacity of generating content on demand.

5.Editing:

All the information found in the Histone Infobase is carefully checked and edited by a Scientific Editor before finalizing .

User Participation:

If the users come across any relevant data on new histone variants, or post translational modifications, or enzymes, which is found missing in this Infobase, they can send it to us along with the relevant references for the same. We strongly exhort the users to participate  in this process and help us in updating information.