Community editing

How to apply to become a MEROPS community editor

We encourage researchers with specialist knowledge of peptidases to help with annotation by writing summaries for peptidases. Each of these will become a part of the peptidase summary page in MEROPS, and the researcher will be accredited with authorship. Please contact us if you wish to help and you will be sent a user identification and a password. The peptidase summary will remain the sole responsibility of the appointed researcher as long as he or she wishes, and the researcher will be expected to keep the summary contemporary with scientific advances.

To edit a summary, please go to the following website:

http://meropstest.sanger.ac.uk/cgi-bin/editor/edit_page.

You will be asked to enter your username and password, or request a new password if you have forgotten it. Then you will be presented with your affiliation, which you can edit, and a list of peptidases available to you to edit. By clicking on 'edit' next to the peptidase name, you will enter the editor.

How to edit a peptidase summary

The editor displays the existing peptidase summary, including the domain architecture image. Some sections of the summary, which are derived from the MEROPS database cannot be edited, but if there are errors or omissions, we would be grateful to be informed about them. Boxes with or without text in them are sections that you can edit. By clicking within a box, you will be presented with a new screen. Simply enter relevant information in the box, or edit existing text. There are four buttons at the top of the box which help with formatting. These are:

• Italicise: First select text which should appear in italics then click on this button.
• Reference: Click here to see the reference list for the peptidase in question. Select a reference by clicking on it.
• Add Reference by PubMed ID: To enter a reference not in the reference list, enter the PubMed identifier of the reference, select it and then click this button to complete the reference.
• Peptidase link: Enter a MEROPS identifier, select it and click on this button to convert it into a hypertext link.

The contents of the various sections should be as follows:

• Name and history This should be a brief introduction to the peptidase, including its discovery and origin of its name(s). There is no need to provide a list of all historical names (unless any are missing from the "Other names" field of the existing peptidase summary).
• Structure Include any features of the primary, secondary, tertiary or quaternary (if any) structure that are relevant to the peptidase, such as M_r, pI, covalent modifications, location of binding sites, metal atoms. There is no need to list active site residues, primary sequence database identifiers and protein databank identifiers. A brief description of the structure is included in the clan and family summary.
• pH optimum Include pH optimum and range where known.
• Activity and specificity Substrate specificity is a very important property of a peptidase so include details for this when available. Remember that for a well characterized peptidase the summary will include displays of specificity.
• RNA splicing Include details of alternative splicing and alternative initiation but limit this to examples that are known to be transcribed into proteins.
• Preparation This should be a brief description of the source (biological or commercial), expression systems, isolation and purification.
• Physiology For some peptidases, there may already be text in this field. Please modify this as required. Include details of known physiological roles. Physiological roles not relevant to the peptidase activity should be only briefly described.
• Pharmaceutical relevance For some peptidases, there may already be text in this field. Please modify this as required. Include details of the pharmacological relevance of the peptidase, including it being a drug target or a marker for a particular disease.
• Biotechnology For some peptidases, there may already be text in this field. Please modify this as required. Include details of any biotechnological, industrial, medical, agricultural or food industry uses.
• Biological aspects Include any aspects of the biology of the peptidase not covered in any of the fields above, such as gene promoters (trans acting elements), trafficking, proenzyme activation, conformational change, distribution in organisms and tissues. The Distribution page will show the organisms from which orthologues of the peptidase have been sequenced.
• Subcellular location Include the known subcellular location of the peptidase. If the peptidase is secreted include the destination, such as "secreted to the plasma" or "secreted to the periplasm".
• Knockout For some peptidases, there may already be text in this field. Please modify this as required. Include details of knockout experiments and the physiological consequences, if any.
• Substrates This should be a very general comment. There is no need to list substrates unless the cleavage sites are unknown or missing from the Substrates page of the existing peptidase summary. The heading is a link to the Substrates page. Listing significant proteins that are not cleaved (e.g. collagens) is useful.
• Inhibitors This should be a very general comment. There is no need to list inhibitors unless they are missing from the Inhibitors page of the existing peptidase summary. The heading is a link to the Inhibitors page. Listing relevant proteins and small molecule inhibitors that are not inhibitors (e.g. alpha2-macroglobulin or E-64) is useful.
• Special substrate Include any substrate that is known or thought to be specific for the peptidase.
• Special inhibitor Include any inhibitor that is known or thought to be specific for the peptidase.

Each of the headings is followed by a symbol () that when clicked upon will show the above, relevant help message.

Saving your edits

Each section of the summary is stored separately, so there is no need to complete a summary in one sitting. You can save your edits at any time by clicking the 'Save' button at the foot of the page. Remember to save your changes before logging off or moving away from the MEROPS editor pages. When you have completed your summary, click the 'Save and Submit for Review' button. Your summary will then be checked by the administrators, and will appear in the next release of the database.