Molecular Applications Validates Panther Gene Function Technology

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Molecular Applications Group has completed an evaluation of its Panther technology for gene function prediction in which a test set of sequences included validated examples of a pharmaceutically important class of proteins, in addition to well-characterized decoys. Panther employs proprietary Hidden Markov Model libraries, including specific subfamily HMMs, and standard public-domain methods such as PSI-Blast. In this test, Molecular Applications' HMMs identified 50 percent more homologs than PSI-Blast or Pfam, without a single false-positive hit, claimed the company. In combination with PSI-Blast, Molecular Applications' HMMs uncovered a two-fold increase in the number of homologs found by PSI-Blast alone.