MONSTER is a one-stop server for annotating residues with functional and structural properties from sequence information only.
Listed below are the basic steps for using MONSTER.
Input
- Name of the sequence. Just provide a name of the sequence for your reference. This will be very helpful if you intend to submit multiple jobs to MONSTER.
- A protein sequence containing the standard amino acids, and length of protein < 1500 amino acids long. "ARNDCQEGHILKMFPSTWYVBZX" are the valid amino acid codes. Do not worry MONSTER has a validation step to check for sequence characters.
- An email address where results will be sent. If you login, then by default the email address field will be filled with the default value.
- Checkbox the services you desire. You have the option of selecting seven prediction services. Just check the box next to the service. Currently MONSTER predicts the secondary structure, disordered region, transmembrane-helix region, dna-binding residues, protein blocks (16 local structure alphabets), solvent accessible surface area, and residue-wise contact order.
- Click the submit button. You will see a response saying that the predictions will be emailed to you.
Status of Submision
After MONSTER completes with your request, you will get an email containing a url of the predicted result.
For users who are logged in, they can check the status of their submission by clicking the "My jobs" link in the left panel. All jobs that the user has submitted to date will be displayed with status being completed/pending.
If the user clicks the completed link then the individual predictions will be displayed. Note, this link is the same that the users receive in their email (anonymous/authenticated users).
Output
The output page shows all the predictions available for the submission.
Click on the link for the prediction that you had like to view, and the result will be displayed
in an extended window on the same page.
The predictions for the solvent accessible surface area and contact order (regression results)
are displayed in the form of a simple plot.
All the predictions, in the form of profiles can be downloaded individually but can be also be downloaded using "download all predictions" link.
Run Time
MONSTER will send out an email as soon as your job gets completed. However, the total run-time is dependent on the server load as well as length of sequence.
For a 1000 long protein sequence, all predictions take approximately 1 hour on the average.
Contact Information
For any feedback or problems, please email monster@cs.umn.edu.