Recent advances in sequence-based protein structure prediction

The most accurate characterizations of the structure of proteins are provided by structural biology experiments. However, because of the high cost and labor-intensive nature of the structural experiments, the gap between the number of protein sequences and solved structures is widening rapidly. Development of computational methods to accurately model protein structures from sequences is becoming increasingly important to the biological community. In this article, we highlight some important progress in the field of protein structure prediction, especially those related to free modeling (FM) methods that generate structure models without using homologous templates. We also provide a short synopsis of some of the recent advances in FM approaches as demonstrated in the recent Computational Assessment of Structure Prediction competition as well as recent trends and outlook for FM approaches in protein structure prediction.