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Homology, similarity, and identity in peptide epitope immunodefinition
Author(s) -
Kanduc Darja
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of peptide science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1099-1387
pISSN - 1075-2617
DOI - 10.1002/psc.2419
Subject(s) - homology (biology) , epitope , similarity (geometry) , identity (music) , sequence homology , computational biology , peptide , peptide sequence , biology , genetics , amino acid , antigen , biochemistry , computer science , artificial intelligence , philosophy , gene , image (mathematics) , aesthetics
The tendency to use the terms homology, similarity, and identity interchangeably persists in comparative biology. When translated to immunology, overlapping the concepts of homology, similarity, and identity complicates the exact definition of the self–nonself dichotomy and, in particular, affects immunopeptidomics, an emerging field aimed at cataloging and distinguishing immunoreactive peptide epitopes from silent nonreactive amino acid sequences. The definition of similar/dissimilar peptides in immunology is discussed with special attention to the analysis of immunological (dis)similarity between two or more protein sequences that equates to measuring sequence similarity with the use of a proper measurement unit such as a length determinant. Copyright © 2012 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.