Structural bioinformatics is the branch of bioinformatics

Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics is the application of computer science and information technology to the field of biology and medicine. Bioinformatics deals with algorithms, databases and information systems, web technologies, artificial intelligence and soft computing, information and computation theory, software...

 which is related to the analysis and prediction of the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules such as proteins, RNA

RNA

Ribonucleic acid , or RNA, is one of the three major macromolecules that are essential for all known forms of life....

, and DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

. It deals with generalizations about macromolecular 3D structure such as comparisons of overall folds and local motifs, principles of molecular folding, evolution, and binding interactions, and structure/function relationships, working both from experimentally solved structures and from computational models. The term structural has the same meaning as in structural biology

Structural biology

Structural biology is a branch of molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics concerned with the molecular structure of biological macromolecules, especially proteins and nucleic acids, how they acquire the structures they have, and how alterations in their structures affect their function...

, and structural bioinformatics can be seen as computational

Computational

Computational may refer to:* Computer* Computational algebra* Computational Aeroacoustics* Computational and Information Systems Laboratory* Computational and Systems Neuroscience* Computational archaeology* Computational auditory scene analysis...

 structural biology.

See also

Books

• Bourne, P.E., and Gu, J. (2009) Structural Bioinformatics (2nd edition), John Wiley & Sons, New York, ISBN 978-0-470-18105-8
• Bourne, P.E., and Weissig, H. (2003) Structural Bioinformatics, Wiley ISBN 0-471-20199-5
• Leach, Andrew (2001) Molecular Modelling: Principles and Applications (2nd edition), Prentice Hall, ISBN 978-0582382107

Databases

• MMDB
• Protein Data Bank (PDB)
• Nucleic acid Data Base (NDB)
• Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP)
• TOPOFIT-DB
• Electron Density Server (EDS)
• CASP Prediction Center
• PISCES server for creating non-redundant lists of proteins
• The Structural Biology Knowledgebase
• ProtCID
  ProtCID
  The Protein Common Interface Database is a database of similar protein-protein interfaces in crystal structures of homologous proteins....
  
  : The Protein Common Interface Database

Software

• BALLView molecular modeling and visualization
• FRIEND visualization and analysis
• STING visualization and analysis
• PyMOL viewer and modeling
• VMD viewer, molecular dynamics
• KiNG, an open-source Java kinemage
  Kinemage
  A kinemage is an interactive graphic scientific illustration. It often is used to visualize molecules, especially proteins and nucleic acids, although it can also represent other types of 3-dimensional data...
  
   viewer
• MolMol viewer, NMR
• SPDBV DeepView viewer
• STRIDE determination of secondary structure from coordinates
• MolProbity structure-validation web server
• PROCHECK, a structure-validation web service
  Web service
  A Web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over the web.The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network". It has an interface described in a machine-processable format...
  
  
• MolTalk, structural bioinformatics software
• Jmol, a molecular viewer Java applet with rasmol-like scripting capabilities and Javascript interaction
• PROPKA, rapid prediction of protein pKa values based on empirical structure/function relationships
• CARA – Computer Aided Resonance Assignment
• Docking Server, a molecular docking web server
• StarBiochem, a java protein viewer, features direct search of protein databank
• Biskit
  Biskit
  Biskit is an open source software package written in Python.The package facilitates research in Structural bioinformatics and molecular modelling...
  
  , a python platform for structural bioinformatics
• SPADE the structural proteomics application development environment
• UGENE
  UGENE
  UGENE is free open-source cross-platform bioinformatics software.It integrates dozens of well-known biological tools and algorithms, providing both graphical user and command line interfaces...
  
  , an opensource multiplatform viewer for PDB
  Protein Data Bank
  The Protein Data Bank is a repository for the 3-D structural data of large biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids....
  
   and MMDB files
• PocketSuite, a web portal for various web-servers for binding site level analysis