MotifContaining

Motifcontaining is an adjective used to describe DNA, RNA, or protein sequences that include one or more short, conserved sequence motifs. A motif is a recurring pattern that is often associated with a structural feature or a specific biological function. Motifs are catalogued in databases such as PROSITE, Pfam, and SMART, and motifcontaining sequences are those that match the definition of a given motif set.

In functional genomics, identifying motifcontaining proteins helps infer activity, binding capabilities, or subcellular localization. For example, transcription factors may be described as motifcontaining if they harbor a DNA-binding motif; kinases may be termed motifcontaining if they carry nucleotide-binding or catalytic motifs. Motif annotation supports classification into families and can guide experimental design.

Detection and interpretation: Motifcontaining status is usually determined by computational searches that compare sequences to motif models such as position weight matrices or regular expressions, or by hidden Markov models (HMMs) in tools like MEME, FIMO, and HMMER. Limitations include degeneracy of motifs, short length increasing false positives, and motif context dependence. Experimental validation is often necessary.

Related concepts include motif, protein domain, motif discovery, and motif scanning. In practice, motifcontaining can be a starting point for functional prediction and comparative genomics.