Deep-learning algorithms such as AlphaFold2 and RoseTTAFold can now predict a protein’s 3D shape from its linear sequence — a huge boon to structural biologists.

An algorithm that already predicts how proteins fold might also shed light on the physical principles that dictate this folding.

In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors that emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole. Emergence plays a central role in theories of integrative levels and of complex systems. For instance, the phenomeno...

Protein folding is the physical process by which a protein chain is translated into its native three-dimensional structure, typically a "folded" conformation, by which the protein becomes biologically functional. Via an expeditious and reproducible process, a polypeptide folds into its characteristic three-dimensional structure from a random coi...

Protein structure prediction is the inference of the three-dimensional structure of a protein from its amino acid sequence—that is, the prediction of its secondary and tertiary structure from primary structure. Structure prediction is different from the inverse problem of protein design. Protein structure prediction is one of the most important ...