Alignment Conservation Annotation
This is an automatically calculated quantitative alignment
annotation which measures the number of conserved physico-chemical
properties conserved for each column of the alignment. Its calculation
is based on the one used in
the AMAS method of multiple sequence alignment analysis :
Conservation is measured as a numerical index reflecting the conservation of physico-chemical properties in the alignment: Identities score highest, and the next most conserved group contain substitutions to amino acids lying in the same physico-chemical class.
Conservation is visualised on the alignment or a sequence group as a histogram giving the score for each column. Conserved columns are indicated by '*' (score of 11 with default amino acid property grouping), and columns with mutations where all properties are conserved are marked with a '+' (score of 10, indicating all properties are conserved).
Colouring an alignment by conservation
Conservation scores can be used to colour an alignment. This is
explained further in the help page for conservation colouring.