aCHEdb: The database system for ESTHER, the α/β fold family of proteins and the Cholinesterase gene server

Abstract

Acetylcholinesterase belongs to a family of proteins, the α/β hydrolase fold family, whose constituents evolutionarily diverged from a common ancestor and share a similar structure of a central β sheet surrounded by a helices. These proteins fulfil a wide range of physiological functions (hydrolases, adhesion molecules, hormone precursors) ESTHER (for esterases, α/β hydrolase enzymes and relatives) is a database aimed at collecting in one information system, sequence data together with biological annotations and experimental biochemical results related to the structure-function analysis of the enzymes of the family. The major upgrade of the database comes from the use of a new database management system: aCHEdb which uses the ACeDB progam designed by Richard Durbin and Jean-Thierry Mieg. It can be found at http://www.ensam.inra.fr/ cholinesterase.