Kincore: a web resource for structural classification of protein kinases and their inhibitors

The active form of kinases is shared across different family members, as are several commonly observed inactive forms. We previously performed a clustering of the conformation of the activation loop of all protein kinase structures in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) into 8 classes based on the dihedral angles that place the Phe side chain of the DFG motif at the N-terminus of the activation loop. Our clusters are strongly associated with the placement of the activation loop, the C-helix, and other structural elements of kinases. We present Kincore, a web resource providing access to our conformational assignments for kinase structures in the PDB. While other available databases provide conformational states or drug type but not both, KinCore includes the conformational state and the inhibitor type (Type 1, 1.5, 2, 3, allosteric) for each kinase chain. The user can query and browse the database using these attributes or determine the conformational labels of a kinase structure using the web server or a standalone program. The database and labeled structure files can be downloaded from the server. Kincore will help in understanding conformational dynamics of these proteins and guide development of inhibitors targeting specific states. Kincore is available at http://dunbrack.fccc.edu/kincore.