Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 13, 2025

A Protocol for Computer-Based Protein Structure and Function Prediction
Published on: November 3, 2011
AlphaFold Protein Structure Database: massively expanding the structural coverage of protein-sequence space with
Mihaly Varadi1, Stephen Anyango1, Mandar Deshpande1
1European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, UK.
The AlphaFold Protein Structure Database provides over 360,000 highly accurate protein structure predictions, greatly expanding structural coverage. This open-access resource offers atomic coordinates and confidence estimates for researchers worldwide.
Area of Science:
- Structural Biology
- Bioinformatics
- Computational Biology
Background:
- Protein structure prediction is crucial for understanding biological function.
- Existing databases offer limited structural coverage of the vast protein sequence space.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database (AlphaFold DB) as a comprehensive resource for high-accuracy protein structure predictions.
- To enable unprecedented expansion of structural coverage for known proteins.
Main Methods:
- Utilized AlphaFold v2.0, a deep learning system, for predicting protein structures.
- Developed an openly accessible database with programmatic access and interactive visualization tools.
Main Results:
- Released over 360,000 predicted protein structures from 21 model-organism proteomes.
- Included per-residue and pairwise model-confidence estimates and predicted aligned errors.
- Planned expansion to cover over 100 million sequences from the UniRef90 dataset.
Conclusions:
- AlphaFold DB significantly enhances the accessibility of predicted protein structures.
- The database serves as a valuable resource for accelerating biological research and discovery.
Related Concept Videos
Protein Organization
The primary structure of a protein is its amino acid sequence....
Protein Families
Protein Folding
Protein and Protein Structures
Conservation of Protein Domains Over Different Proteins
A limited set of protein domains often duplicate and recombine during evolution. These domains can be organized in different combinations to...
Protein and Protein Structure
A protein's shape is critical to its function. For example, an enzyme...

