Cited by 7,850Protein Structure and DynamicsEnzyme Structure and FunctionMachine Learning in Bioinformatics

AlphaFold Protein Structure Database: massively expanding the structural coverage of protein-sequence space with high-accuracy models

Open access
Varadi, Mihaly, Anyango, Stephen, Deshpande, Mandar, Nair, Sreenath, Natassia, Cindy, Yordanova, Galabina, Yuan, David, Stroe, Oana +19 more·2022·Nucleic Acids Research

Abstract

The AlphaFold Protein Structure Database (AlphaFold DB, https://alphafold.ebi.ac.uk) is an openly accessible, extensive database of high-accuracy protein-structure predictions. Powered by AlphaFold v2.0 of DeepMind, it has enabled an unprecedented expansion of the structural coverage of the known protein-sequence space. AlphaFold DB provides programmatic access to and interactive visualization of predicted atomic coordinates, per-residue and pairwise model-confidence estimates and predicted aligned errors. The initial release of AlphaFold DB contains over 360,000 predicted structures across 21 model-organism proteomes, which will soon be expanded to cover most of the (over 100 million) representative sequences from the UniRef90 data set.

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

AlphaFold DB is an openly accessible database of high-accuracy protein-structure predictions generated by AlphaFold v2.0, initially containing over 360,000 predicted structures across 21 model-organism proteomes. It provides atomic coordinates, per-residue pLDDT confidence, and pairwise predicted aligned errors through FTP, API, and interactive web pages, with planned expansion to >100 million UniRef90 representative sequences.

Key findings

  • The initial release contains over 360,000 predicted structures across 21 model-organism proteomes, including 23,391 human, 55,799 soybean, 43,649 Asian rice, 39,299 maize, 27,434 Arabidopsis, 24,664 zebrafish, 21,615 mouse, and 21,272 rat structures.
  • Predictions include atomic coordinates, per-residue confidence pLDDT on a 0–100 scale, and pairwise Predicted Aligned Error (PAE) in Ångströms capped at 31.75 Å; pLDDT bands are ≥90 very high, 90 > pLDDT ≥ 70 confident, 70 > pLDDT ≥ 50 low, and <50 very low.
  • Data are available via bulk FTP downloads, a public API keyed on UniProt accessions, and protein-specific web pages with interactive visualization using Mol*; metadata are indexed with Apache Solr.
  • Planned expansions aim to exceed 1 million structures, including SwissProt and neglected-disease proteomes, followed by >100 million structures for most UniRef90 representative sequences.

Methods

  • Database/resource paper describing AlphaFold DB, created by DeepMind and EMBL-EBI, using AlphaFold v2.0 predictions.
  • Initial version predicted most sequences in UniProt reference proteomes for 21 organisms in the 16–2700 amino-acid length range, plus 1400-residue fragments for longer human proteins; sequences with non-standard amino acids were excluded, and multiple isoforms were not provided.
  • Data archival includes PDB and mmCIF coordinate files, PAE JSON files, and metadata JSON files; access is through FTP, API, and web pages, with confidence metrics stored in B-factor fields and used for coloring in the 3D viewer.

Limitations

  • Stated: the initial release excludes isoforms and sequences with unknown or non-standard amino acids, and predictions are limited to 16–2700 amino acids, with 1400-residue fragments for longer human proteins.
  • Stated: PAE is asymmetric and capped at 31.75 Å; high PAE values indicate unreliable relative domain positions/orientations, and pLDDT reflects local confidence rather than global accuracy.
  • Evident: this is a database/resource description, not an experimental validation study; initial coverage is limited to 21 proteomes, and the paper does not report new accuracy benchmarks beyond citing AlphaFold/CASP14 and prior human-proteome analyses.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/nar/gkab1061

Cites

22 of 22 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Claims the paper makes

0 of 24 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

  • Findingown data

    The initial release of AlphaFold DB contains over 360,000 predicted structures across 21 model-organism proteomes.

    “The initial release of AlphaFold DB contains over 360,000 predicted structures across 21 model-organism proteomes”
    • Also stated in: § IMPLEMENTATION · plain
      “The initial version of AlphaFold DB contains over 360 000 predicted structures, corresponding meta-information and confidence metrics.”
    • Also stated in: § CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK · plain
      “The first release of AlphaFold DB contains over 360 000 predicted structures from 21 model-organism proteomes.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Findingown data

    The first release of AlphaFold DB covers the human proteome and those of 20 other model organisms.

    “The first release described here covers the human proteome and those of 20 other model organisms (Table 1).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Findingnone given

    Model confidence can vary significantly along a chain.

    “Model confidence can vary significantly along a chain, making it essential to analyse the confidence measures before interpreting structural features.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Premisecitation

    UniProt archives almost 220 million unique protein sequences.

    “However, while the Universal Protein Resource (UniProt) archives almost 220 million unique protein sequences, the Protein Data Bank (PDB) holds only just over 180 000 3D structures for over 55 000 distinct proteins, thus severely limiting the coverage of the sequence space to support biomolecular research globally (5–7).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 3 sources checked
    • cites [5] Bateman, 2021, UniProt: the universal protein knowledgebase in 2021, Nucleic Acids Res. source

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites [6] Armstrong, 2019, PDBe: improved findability of macromolecular structure data in the PDB, Nucleic Acids Res.

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites [7] Varadi, 2019, PDBe-KB: a community-driven resource for structural and functional annotations, Nucleic Acids Res.

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Interpretationown data

    AlphaFold DB has enabled an unprecedented expansion of the structural coverage of the known protein-sequence space.

    “Powered by AlphaFold v2.0 of DeepMind, it has enabled an unprecedented expansion of the structural coverage of the known protein-sequence space.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • May combine two claims. 10
  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim. 19
  • May combine two claims.

    Findingnone given

    AlphaFold DB is an openly accessible, extensive database of high-accuracy protein-structure predictions.

    “The AlphaFold Protein Structure Database (AlphaFold DB, https://alphafold.ebi.ac.uk) is an openly accessible, extensive database of high-accuracy protein-structure predictions.”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Findingnone given

    Predicted structures in AlphaFold DB contain atomic coordinates and per-residue confidence estimates on a scale from 0 to 100, with higher scores corresponding to higher confidence.

    “The predicted structures contain atomic coordinates and per-residue confidence estimates on a scale from 0 to 100, with higher scores corresponding to higher confidence.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Classified as probably not a substantial claim.

    Findingnone given

    AlphaFold DB is powered by AlphaFold v2.0 of DeepMind.

    “Powered by AlphaFold v2.0 of DeepMind”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Findingnone given

    AlphaFold DB provides programmatic access to and interactive visualization of predicted atomic coordinates, per-residue and pairwise model-confidence estimates and predicted aligned errors.

    “AlphaFold DB provides programmatic access to and interactive visualization of predicted atomic coordinates, per-residue and pairwise model-confidence estimates and predicted aligned errors.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingnone given

    All data in AlphaFold DB are publicly accessible through a cloud-based infrastructure.

    “All the data are publicly accessible through a cloud-based infrastructure.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingnone given

    AlphaFold DB provides access to all entries through a public API endpoint, keyed on a UniProt accession.

    “We provide access to all entries through a public API endpoint, keyed on a UniProt accession.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Findingnone given

    AlphaFold DB archives and provides access to atomic coordinates in PDB and mmCIF formats, PAEs in JSON format and corresponding metadata in JSON format.

    “AlphaFold DB archives and provides access to the atomic coordinates in PDB and mmCIF formats, PAEs in JSON format and corresponding metadata in JSON format.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Findingcitation

    Each protein has a dedicated structure page that shows basic information and three separate outputs of the AlphaFold model.

    “Each protein has a dedicated structure page that shows basic information (drawn from UniProt (5) and PDBe (6)) and three separate outputs of the AlphaFold model.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 2 sources checked
    • cites [5] Bateman, 2021, UniProt: the universal protein knowledgebase in 2021, Nucleic Acids Res. source

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites [6] Armstrong, 2019, PDBe: improved findability of macromolecular structure data in the PDB, Nucleic Acids Res.

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Findingnone given

    Data files in the AlphaFold DB archive are versioned, and previous snapshots of the data will be available via FTP, but the web pages will always display the latest version.

    “The data files in the archive are versioned, and previous snapshots of the data will be available via FTP, but the web pages will always display the latest version.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingnone given

    AlphaFold DB provides graphical access to and interactive visualization of all the predictions and meta-information for the broader scientific community through web pages.

    “AlphaFold DB provides graphical access to and interactive visualization of all the predictions and meta-information for the broader scientific community through web pages.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingnone given

    The third output of the AlphaFold model is a pairwise confidence prediction, which helps to assess the reliability of relative domain positions and orientations as well as the global topology of the protein.

    “The third output is a pairwise confidence prediction, which helps to assess the reliability of relative domain positions and orientations as well as the global topology of the protein (Figure 3).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • May combine two claims.

    Findingnone given

    AlphaFold DB's initial dataset contains proteins with sequence lengths of 16-2700 and excludes isoforms and sequences with unknown or non-standard amino acids.

    “The data set contains proteins with sequence lengths of 16–2700 and excludes isoforms and sequences with unknown or non-standard amino acids.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Findingcitation

    UniProt, Pfam, InterPro and PDBe-KB use the AlphaFold DB API to display AlphaFold models on their web pages.

    “UniProt (5), Pfam (18), InterPro (19) and PDBe-KB (7) use this API to display AlphaFold models on their web pages.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 3 sources checked
    • cites [5] Bateman, 2021, UniProt: the universal protein knowledgebase in 2021, Nucleic Acids Res. source

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites [18] Mistry, 2021, Pfam: The protein families database in 2021, Nucleic Acids Res. source

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites [19] Blum, 2021, The InterPro protein families and domains database: 20 years on, Nucleic Acids Res. source

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing). May combine two claims.

    Findingnone given

    AlphaFold DB provides predictions through several data-access mechanisms: bulk downloads via FTP; programmatic access via an application programming interface (API); download and interactive visualization of individual predictions on protein-specific web pages keyed on UniProt accessions.

    “AlphaFold DB provides predictions through several data-access mechanisms: (i) bulk downloads via FTP; (ii) programmatic access via an application programming interface (API); (iii) download and interactive visualization of individual predictions on protein-specific web pages keyed on UniProt accessions.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Interpretationreasoning

    If PAE values (x, y) are low, AlphaFold predicts the domains to have well-defined relative positions and orientations.

    “For residues x and y in two different domains, if the PAE values (x, y) are low, AlphaFold predicts the domains to have well-defined relative positions and orientations.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    AlphaFold is an AI system developed by DeepMind that makes state-of-the-art predictions of protein structures from their amino-acid sequences.

    “AlphaFold is an AI system developed by DeepMind that makes state-of-the-art predictions of protein structures from their amino-acid sequences (9).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [9] Jumper, 2021, Highly accurate protein structure prediction with AlphaFold, Nature source

      Not checked in the free run.

  • May combine two claims.

    Premisecitation

    The PDB holds just over 180,000 3D structures for over 55,000 distinct proteins.

    “However, while the Universal Protein Resource (UniProt) archives almost 220 million unique protein sequences, the Protein Data Bank (PDB) holds only just over 180 000 3D structures for over 55 000 distinct proteins, thus severely limiting the coverage of the sequence space to support biomolecular research globally (5–7).”
    Quote in the paperSubstantial claim0 of 3 sources checked
    • cites [5] Bateman, 2021, UniProt: the universal protein knowledgebase in 2021, Nucleic Acids Res. source

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites [6] Armstrong, 2019, PDBe: improved findability of macromolecular structure data in the PDB, Nucleic Acids Res.

      Not checked in the free run.

    • cites [7] Varadi, 2019, PDBe-KB: a community-driven resource for structural and functional annotations, Nucleic Acids Res.

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Interpretationreasoning

    pLDDT reflects local confidence in the structure.

    “As a confidence metric based on lDDT, pLDDT also reflects local confidence in the structure, and should be used, for example, to assess confidence within a single domain.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [14] Mariani, 2013, lDDT: a local superposition-free score for comparing protein structures and models using distance difference tests, Bioinformatics source

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    Very low confidence pLDDT scores correlate with high propensities for intrinsic disorder.

    “It was recently described that very low confidence pLDDT scores correlate with high propensities for intrinsic disorder (17).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [17] Akdel, 2021, A structural biology community assessment of AlphaFold 2 applications Biophysics

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Interpretationreasoning

    If PAE values are high, the relative position and orientation of the two domains are unreliable.

    “If the PAE values are high, then the relative position and orientation of the two domains are unreliable, and users should not attach biological or structural relevance to these.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S4 (based).

    Premisenone given

    Figuring out the exact structure of a protein remains an expensive and often time-consuming process.

    “However, figuring out the exact structure of a protein remains an expensive and often time-consuming process.”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim
  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    The lower confidence bands appear to correlate well with backbone flexibility and intrinsic disorder.

    “The lower confidence bands appear to correlate well with backbone flexibility and intrinsic disorder (13) (Figure 2).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [13] Tunyasuvunakool, 2021, Highly accurate protein structure prediction for the human proteome, Nature source

      Not checked in the free run.

  • Probably not a substantial claim: may not pass S3 (load-bearing).

    Premisecitation

    Since the mid-1950s, the scientific community has determined over 180,000 structures of proteins, nucleic acids, and complexes in atomic detail and archived them in the PDB.

    “Since the mid-1950s, the scientific community has been using ever-more advanced experimental methods to determine over 180 000 structures of proteins, nucleic acids, and complexes in atomic detail, and archive them in the PDB, the single worldwide archive of experimental macromolecular structure data managed by the wwPDB consortium (21).”
    Quote in the paperNot a substantial claim0 of 1 sources checked
    • cites [21] wwPDB consortium, 2018, Protein Data Bank: the single global archive for 3D macromolecular structure data, Nucleic Acids Res. source

      Not checked in the free run.

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Authors
Varadi, M., Anyango, S., Deshpande, M., Nair, S., Natassia, C., Yordanova, G., Yuan, D., Stroe, O., Wood, G., Laydon, A., Žídek, A., Green, T., Tunyasuvunakool, K., Petersen, S., Jumper, J., Clancy, E., Green, R., Vora, A., Lutfi, M., Figurnov, M., Cowie, A., Hobbs, N., Kohli, P., Kleywegt, G., Birney, E., Hassabis, D., & Velankar, S.
Affiliations
  • European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, UK
  • European Bioinformatics Institute (GB)
  • Google DeepMind (United Kingdom) (GB)
Corresponding author
  • Hassabis, Demis
  • Velankar, Sameer
Venue
Nucleic Acids Research
Published
2021-11-17
Volume
50
Issue
D1
Pages
D439-D444
ISSN
  • 0305-1048 (ISSN-L)
  • 1362-4962
OpenAlex
W3211795435
Cited by
7,850
References
24
Citations by year
2026: 1070 · 2025: 1540 · 2024: 2150 · 2023: 2142 · 2022: 925 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
FWCI
416.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nucleic Acids Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
DeepMind
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Structure and Dynamics
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Enzyme Structure and Function
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Machine Learning in Bioinformatics
Keywords
AlphaFold, protein structure prediction, protein sequence space, structural coverage, model confidence, atomic coordinates, proteome, DeepMind
MeSH terms
Protein Conformation, alpha-Helical, Protein Conformation, beta-Strand, Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Bacteria, Dictyostelium, Fungi, Humans, Models, Molecular, Plants, Proteins, Software, Trypanosoma cruzi, Protein Folding, Internet, Databases, Protein, Datasets as Topic

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