The MobiDB database (URL: https://mobidb.org/) provides predictions and annotations for intrinsically disordered proteins. Here, we report recent developments implemented in MobiDB version 4, regarding the database format, with novel types of annotations and an improved update process. The new website includes a re-designed user interface, a more effective search engine and advanced API for programmatic access. The new database schema gives more flexibility for the users, as well as simplifying the maintenance and updates. In addition, the new entry page provides more visualisation tools including customizable feature viewer and graphs of the residue contact maps. MobiDB v4 annotates the binding modes of disordered proteins, whether they undergo disorder-to-order transitions or remain disordered in the bound state. In addition, disordered regions undergoing liquid-liquid phase separation or post-translational modifications are defined. The integrated information is presented in a simplified interface, which enables faster searches and allows large customized datasets to be downloaded in TSV, Fasta or JSON formats. An alternative advanced interface allows users to drill deeper into features of interest. A new statistics page provides information at database and proteome levels. The new MobiDB version presents state-of-the-art knowledge on disordered proteins and improves data accessibility for both computational and experimental users.
Residue interaction networks (RINs) are used to represent residue contacts in protein structures. Thanks to the advances in network theory, RINs have been proved effective as an alternative to coordinate data in the analysis of complex systems. The RING server calculates high quality and reliable non-covalent molecular interactions based on geometrical parameters. Here, we present the new RING 3.0 version extending the previous functionality in several ways. The underlying software library has been re-engineered to improve speed by an order of magnitude. RING now also supports the mmCIF format and provides typed interactions for the entire PDB chemical component dictionary, including nucleic acids. Moreover, RING now employs probabilistic graphs, where multiple conformations (e.g. NMR or molecular dynamics ensembles) are mapped as weighted edges, opening up new ways to analyze structural data. The web interface has been expanded to include a simultaneous view of the RIN alongside a structure viewer, with both synchronized and clickable. Contact evolution across models (or time) is displayed as a heatmap and can help in the discovery of correlating interaction patterns. The web server, together with an extensive help and tutorial, is available from URL: https://ring.biocomputingup.it/.
The MobiDB (URL: mobidb.bio.unipd.it) database of protein disorder and mobility annotations has been significantly updated and upgraded since its last major renewal in 2014. Several curated datasets for intrinsic disorder and folding upon binding have been integrated from specialized databases. The indirect evidence has also been expanded to better capture information available in the PDB, such as high temperature residues in X-ray structures and overall conformational diversity. Novel nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shift data provides an additional experimental information layer on conformational dynamics. Predictions have been expanded to provide new types of annotation on backbone rigidity, secondary structure preference and disordered binding regions. MobiDB 3.0 contains information for the complete UniProt protein set and synchronization has been improved by covering all UniParc sequences. An advanced search function allows the creation of a wide array of custom-made datasets for download and further analysis. A large amount of information and cross-links to more specialized databases are intended to make MobiDB the central resource for the scientific community working on protein intrinsic disorder and mobility.
Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) defying the traditional protein structure–function paradigm have been difficult to analyze. The availability of accurate structure predictions on a large scale in AlphaFoldDB offers a fresh perspective on IDR prediction. Here, we establish three baselines for IDR prediction from AlphaFoldDB models based on the recent CAID dataset. Surprisingly, AlphaFoldDB is highly competitive for predicting both IDRs and conditionally folded binding regions, demonstrating the plasticity of the disorder to structure continuum.
The Database of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins (DisProt, URL: https://disprot.org) is the major repository of manually curated annotations of intrinsically disordered proteins and regions from the literature. We report here recent updates of DisProt version 9, including a restyled web interface, refactored Intrinsically Disordered Proteins Ontology (IDPO), improvements in the curation process and significant content growth of around 30%. Higher quality and consistency of annotations is provided by a newly implemented reviewing process and training of curators. The increased curation capacity is fostered by the integration of DisProt with APICURON, a dedicated resource for the proper attribution and recognition of biocuration efforts. Better interoperability is provided through the adoption of the Minimum Information About Disorder (MIADE) standard, an active collaboration with the Gene Ontology (GO) and Evidence and Conclusion Ontology (ECO) consortia and the support of the ELIXIR infrastructure.
The Database of Protein Disorder (DisProt, URL: https://disprot.org) provides manually curated annotations of intrinsically disordered proteins from the literature. Here we report recent developments with DisProt (version 8), including the doubling of protein entries, a new disorder ontology, improvements of the annotation format and a completely new website. The website includes a redesigned graphical interface, a better search engine, a clearer API for programmatic access and a new annotation interface that integrates text mining technologies. The new entry format provides a greater flexibility, simplifies maintenance and allows the capture of more information from the literature. The new disorder ontology has been formalized and made interoperable by adopting the OWL format, as well as its structure and term definitions have been improved. The new annotation interface has made the curation process faster and more effective. We recently showed that new DisProt annotations can be effectively used to train and validate disorder predictors. We believe the growth of DisProt will accelerate, contributing to the improvement of function and disorder predictors and therefore to illuminate the ‘dark’ proteome.