Prediction of inter-domain linker regions in protein sequences: A survey

Abstract

Protein chains are typically large and consist of multiple domains which are difficult and computationally expensive to characterize by experimental methods. Therefore, accurate and reliable prediction of protein domain boundaries is often the primary step in both experimental and computational protein research. This paper surveys several prediction techniques of inter-domain linker segments within protein sequences and summarizes the key technical challenges and unresolved issues. The paper investigates most of the relevant existing approaches carried out towards this perspective and provides a comparison of these approaches. Future research directions in this area are also discussed.