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When the Human Genome Project determined the nucleotide sequence of every gene, it simultaneously revealed the amino acid sequence of every protein. That achievement was remarkable but also insufficient, because the linear chain of amino acids folds into a 3-dimensional (3D) structure, and that structure is essential for the protein's function. Determining 3D structure is critical for designing drugs that affect a protein's function. Indeed, for nearly a century, predicting 3D structure from linear structure has been a holy grail of biology.
An artificial intelligence (AI) company owned by Google developed a program to do just that. During several years, the AI program was taught basic rules of protein structure. Then it was fed the amino ac…