Peptides are extensively studied bioactive compounds from food. They are analyzed e.g. using in silico strategies. The BIOPEP-UWM database (https://biochemia.uwm.edu.pl/en/biopep-uwm-2/) has become a standard tool in peptide research. Number of visits since 2024.01.01 is c.a. 56,000 (2025.07.24) and there is over 2,000 publications citing the database name or web address, as judged by Google Scholar.

The BIOPEP-UWM is publicly available without registration and includes databases of bioactive peptides, sensory peptides and amino acids and virtually bioactive peptides (BIOPEP-UWM Virtual). They annotate 5362, 587 and 499 records respectively, representing 99 bioactivities including tastes. Currently BIOPEP-UWM offers possibility of annotation of peptides with non-proteinogenic and modified amino acids or non-amino acid residues using data of monomers from the BIOPEP-UWM repository of amino acids and modifications.

Records of peptides containing proteinogenic amino acids and other residues are available to all options e.g. proteolysis simulation or conversion from sequence into SMILES code. BIOPEP-UWM enables annotation of peptides containing residues not investigated to date, such as sulfoxides with asymmetric sulphur atoms or anomers of lysine glycation products. The database is thus ahead of the state of knowledge in food science.

Acknowledgements:

This work was supported by designated subsidy of the Minister of Science and Higher Education Republic of Poland, task entitled: The Research Network of Life Sciences Universities for the Development of the Polish Dairy Industry – Research Project and by Minister of Science under “the Regional Initiative of Excellence Program”.