BioDolphin as a comprehensive database of lipid–protein binding interactions

Lipid-protein interactions are crucial for virtually all biological processes in living cells. However, existing structural databases focusing on these interactions are limited to integral membrane proteins. A systematic understanding of diverse lipid-protein interactions also encompassing lipid-anchored, peripheral membrane and soluble lipid binding proteins remains to be elucidated. To address this gap and facilitate the research of universal lipid-protein assemblies, we developed BioDolphin - a curated database with over 127,000 lipid-protein interactions. BioDolphin provides comprehensive annotations, including protein functions, protein families, lipid classifications, lipid-protein binding affinities, membrane association type, and atomic structures. Accessible via a publicly available web server (www.biodolphin.chemistry.gatech.edu), users can efficiently search for lipid-protein interactions using a wide range of options and download datasets of interest. Additionally, BioDolphin features interactive 3D visualization of each lipid-protein complex, facilitating the exploration of structure-function relationships. BioDolphin also includes detailed information on atomic-level intermolecular interactions between lipids and proteins that enable large scale analysis of both paired complexes and larger assemblies. As an open-source resource, BioDolphin enables global analysis of lipid-protein interactions and supports data-driven approaches for developing predictive machine learning algorithms for lipid-protein binding affinity and structures.