Claudia Andreini’s group works at the Magnetic Resonance Center (CERM/CIRMMP Infrastructure) of the University of Florence (https://www.cerm.unifi.it/). The group focuses on sequence and structural bioinformatics of metalloproteins: Claudia Andreini and her collaborators have been pioneers in using computational methods to study these systems, which are crucial for all living organisms, from bacteria to humans.
The Andreini group introduced the key concept of Minimal Functional Site (MFS), a description of metal-binding sites in biological macromolecules based on its local structure independent of the global protein structure. Based on this concept, the group developed the MetalPDB database, which contains all the MFS’s contained in known structures(https://metalpdb.cerm.unifi.it/). The database constitutes a central resource for all scientists involved in the study of metalloproteins, with approximately 3,000 unique domains accessing it monthly. The Andreini group has also developed tools for MFS analysis, including structural comparisons (MetalS2 and MetalS3) and analysis of the local site geometry (FindGeo). These tools have shed light on the enzymatic mechanisms and the evolutionary origins of multiheme cytochromes which have crucial roles in diverse biogeochemical cycles . The Andreini group also developed sequence analysis tools, such as MetalPredator to predict iron, zinc, and copper-dependent proteins from genome databases, and has recently started to employ AI to improve prediction accuracy.
The group is enthusiastic about making its resources and skills available to pursue the success of an exciting and frontier project like W-BioCat.
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