Martins et al. BMC Bioinformatics (2021) 22:1 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12859-020-03881-z DATABASE Open Access Propedia: a database for protein–peptide identifcation based on a hybrid clustering algorithm Pedro M. Martins1 , Lucianna H. Santos1, Diego Mariano1, Felippe C. Queiroz3, Luana L. Bastos1, Isabela de S. Gomes3, Pedro H. C. Fischer5, Rafael E. O. Rocha1, Sabrina A. Silveira3, Leonardo H. F. de Lima5, Mariana T. Q. de Magalhães2, Maria G. A. Oliveira4 and Raquel C. de Melo‑Minardi1* *Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract 1 Laboratory of Bioinformatics Background: Protein–peptide interactions play a fundamental role in a wide variety and Systems (LBS), Department of Computer of biological processes, such as cell signaling, regulatory networks, immune responses, Science, Universidade and enzyme inhibition. Peptides are characterized by low toxicity and small interface Federal de Minas Gerais, Av areas; therefore, they are good targets for therapeutic strategies, rational drug plan‑ Pres. Antônio Carlos, Belo Horizonte, MG 31720‑901, ning and protein inhibition. Approximately 10% of the ethical pharmaceutical market Brazil is protein/peptide‑based. Furthermore, it is estimated that 40% of protein interactions Full list of author information are mediated by peptides. Despite the fast increase in the volume of biological data, is available at the end of the article particularly on sequences and structures, there remains a lack of broad and compre‑ hensive protein–peptide databases and tools that allow the retrieval, characterization and understanding of protein–peptide recognition and consequently support peptide design. Results: We introduce Propedia, a comprehensive and up‑to‑date database with a web interface that permits clustering, searching and visualizing of protein–peptide complexes according to varied criteria.