US-align is now available on Vecura for Universal Structure Alignment
This update enables researchers and structural biologists to perform unified, sequence-independent structural and sequence alignments of proteins, RNA, and DNA through a guided workflow inside Vecura, without setting up complex technical infrastructure.
What is US-align?
US-align (Universal Structure Alignment) is a unified, high-performance framework designed for the structural and sequence alignment of various biomolecules. It seamlessly handles proteins, RNAs, and DNAs, whether they are monomers, oligomers, or complex protein-nucleic acid assemblies.
It helps users quantitatively compare the structural similarity of molecules and align sequences across different scales. It is especially useful for structural biologists and bioinformaticians performing large-scale structural database searching or studying evolutionary relationships between complex macromolecular structures.
What can users do with US-align on Vecura?
With US-align on Vecura, users can:
- Perform Monomer Alignment: Compare individual protein or nucleic acid structures using the
tmalignmode. - Align Complex Structures: Utilize the
mmalignmode to align multi-chain macromolecular complexes. - Evaluate Structural Similarity: Calculate standard metrics such as TM-score and RMSD to assess the quality and similarity of structural overlays.
- Execute Sequence Alignments: Perform both global and local pairwise sequence alignments through a streamlined, guided interface.
What the output means
The output provides detailed structural alignment reports including TM-scores, RMSD values, and sequence identity percentages. It also generates structural alignment visualizations to help interpret how well two or more molecules superimpose in 3D space.
This output should be used to support scientific decision making. It does not replace experimental validation.
Why this matters
The ability to compare macromolecular structures is a cornerstone of understanding protein function and evolution. Previously, researchers often had to switch between different specialized tools for proteins, RNA, and complexes, which created significant friction in research workflows.
By providing a unified, "all-in-one" framework, US-align simplifies these comparisons, allowing for more consistent and efficient analysis. On Vecura, this power is democratized through a guided workflow, removing the need for local software compilation or complex command-line infrastructure.
- Developed by: The Zhang Lab (University of Michigan)
- Source: GitHub / US-align
- Reference: Zhang, C., et al. (2022). "US-align: universal structure alignment of proteins and nucleic acids." Nature Methods.
Try US-align on Vecura.
Open the model workspace and start evaluating it with your own inputs.