license: mit
language:
- en
- zh
tags:
- OneScience
- life-science
- protein
- protein-language-model
- structure-aware
- mutation-effect
- embedding
- inverse-folding
- SaProt
frameworks: PyTorch
SaProt
Model Introduction
SaProt (Protein Language Modeling with Structure-aware Vocabulary) is a protein language model that jointly models protein amino acid sequences and structural information. Its central idea is to combine amino acids (AA) with the 3Di structural alphabet generated by Foldseek into structure-aware tokens, allowing the model to learn representations from both protein sequences and structural context.
SaProt can be used for protein representation extraction, zero-shot mutation effect prediction, protein inverse folding, and downstream task fine-tuning.
Paper:
SaProt: Protein Language Modeling with Structure-aware Vocabulary
ICLR 2024 Spotlight
Follow-up work was published in Nature Biotechnology (2025)
Model Description
SaProt models proteins using a structure-aware vocabulary formed by combining amino acids (AA) with the Foldseek 3Di structural alphabet.
For example, a structure-aware sequence can be represented as:
M#EvVpQpL#VyQdYaKv
Every two characters form a structure-aware token: the first character represents the amino acid, and the second represents the corresponding 3Di structural state. # can be used to mask low-confidence structural regions.
The official release provides pretrained models at multiple scales:
| Model | Parameter scale | Training data |
|---|---|---|
SaProt_35M_AF2 |
35M | 40M AF2 structures |
SaProt_650M_PDB |
650M | 40M AF2 structures + 60K PDB structures |
SaProt_650M_AF2 |
650M | 40M AF2 structures |
SaProt_1.3B_AF2 |
1.3B | 40M AF2 structures |
SaProt_1.3B_AFDB_OMG_NCBI |
1.3B | AFDB + OMG_prot50 + NCBI |
For the 35M and 650M SaProt models, the official recommendation is to use SA-token inputs containing structural information for the best results. The 1.3B version can handle both structure-aware sequences and amino-acid-only sequences relatively well.
Use Cases
| Use case | Description |
|---|---|
| Protein representation extraction | Extract residue-level or protein-level embeddings |
| Zero-shot mutation effect prediction | Evaluate single or multiple mutations directly without task-specific fine-tuning |
| Structure-aware protein modeling | Jointly use amino acid and 3Di structural tokens |
| Protein inverse folding | Design sequences from structural information |
| Downstream task fine-tuning | Apply to tasks such as EC, GO, stability, PPI, Contact, and DeepLoc |
Usage
1. Using OneCode
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2. Manual Installation and Usage
Hardware Requirements
- SaProt supports inference on CPUs and GPUs/DCUs.
- The 35M model can be used for lightweight testing; GPUs/DCUs are recommended for the 650M and 1.3B models.
- Batch embedding, mutation scanning, pretraining, and fine-tuning substantially increase GPU memory and host memory requirements.
Set Up the Runtime Environment
DCU Environment
# Activate DTK and CONDA first
conda create -n onescience311 python=3.11 -y
conda activate onescience311
pip install onescience[bio] \
-i http://mirrors.onescience.ai:3141/pypi/simple/ \
--trusted-host mirrors.onescience.ai
Environment Notes
- If you encounter missing dependencies or version incompatibilities during execution, refer to the dependency versions specified in
requirements.txtand install or adjust the relevant dependencies as needed.
Prepare Models and Data
1) SaProt Model Weights
The official models are primarily released on Hugging Face:
SaProt_35M_AF2
https://huggingface.co/westlake-repl/SaProt_35M_AF2
SaProt_650M_PDB
https://huggingface.co/westlake-repl/SaProt_650M_PDB
SaProt_650M_AF2
https://huggingface.co/westlake-repl/SaProt_650M_AF2
SaProt_1.3B_AF2
https://huggingface.co/westlake-repl/SaProt_1.3B_AF2
SaProt_1.3B_AFDB_OMG_NCBI
https://huggingface.co/westlake-repl/SaProt_1.3B_AFDB_OMG_NCBI
For example, download SaProt_650M_AF2 in advance for offline use:
huggingface-cli download \
westlake-repl/SaProt_650M_AF2 \
--local-dir ./weight/PLMs/SaProt_650M_AF2
It is recommended to download all model weights under weight/PLMs/. The current SaProt configuration reads from:
weight/PLMs/SaProt_650M_AF2
To run the ESM2 comparison experiment, also prepare:
huggingface-cli download \
facebook/esm2_t33_650M_UR50D \
--local-dir ./weight/PLMs/esm2_t33_650M_UR50D
The corresponding configuration reads from:
weight/PLMs/esm2_t33_650M_UR50D
2) Foldseek
SaProt structure-aware inputs require PDB/CIF structures to be encoded as Foldseek 3Di sequences first. The official README provides the following download link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B_9t3n_nlj8Y3Kpc_mMjtMdY0OPYa7Re/view
You can also use the official Foldseek Linux prebuilt package or a Foldseek installation already available on the system or platform.
For this adapted version, place Foldseek at:
SaProt/
βββ scripts/
βββ bin/
βββ foldseek
Then grant it execute permission:
chmod +x scripts/bin/foldseek
The Foldseek path used by the current configuration is:
scripts/bin/foldseek
3) Downstream Task Datasets
The official downstream task datasets are available at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11dNGqPYfLE3M-Mbh4U7IQpuHxJpuRr4g?usp=sharing
For this adapted version, extract the downstream task data to:
scripts/LMDB/
Typical paths used by the configuration include:
scripts/LMDB/Thermostability/foldseek/train
scripts/LMDB/Thermostability/foldseek/valid
scripts/LMDB/Thermostability/foldseek/test
scripts/LMDB/ProteinGym/substitutions
scripts/LMDB/ClinVar
4) Pretraining Dataset
To pretrain SaProt from scratch or continue pretraining, prepare the official pretraining data:
westlake-repl/AF2_UniRef50
https://huggingface.co/datasets/westlake-repl/AF2_UniRef50
The official pretraining configuration uses LMDB data directories such as:
scripts/LMDB/AF2_Uniref50/foldseek/train
scripts/LMDB/AF2_Uniref50/foldseek/valid
The pretraining dataset is large and is only needed when pretraining from scratch or continuing pretraining.
3. Quick Start
Download the Model Package
hf download OneScience-Group/SaProt \
--local-dir ./SaProt
cd SaProt
Quick Verification
Check the dependencies:
python - <<'PY'
import torch
import transformers
import esm
import pytorch_lightning as pl
print("torch:", torch.__version__)
print("transformers:", transformers.__version__)
print("pytorch_lightning:", pl.__version__)
print("SaProt dependencies OK")
PY
Check Foldseek:
./scripts/bin/foldseek version
Test model loading:
python - <<'PY'
from transformers import EsmTokenizer, EsmForMaskedLM
model_path = "./weight/PLMs/SaProt_650M_AF2"
tokenizer = EsmTokenizer.from_pretrained(model_path)
model = EsmForMaskedLM.from_pretrained(model_path)
print("SaProt load OK")
PY
Example Data
The official repository provides:
scripts/example/8ac8.cif
This can be used to demonstrate conversion from a protein structure to a structure-aware sequence.
Your own structure input can be:
*.pdb
*.cif
If you already have a Foldseek-encoded structure-aware sequence, you can pass it directly to SaProt without processing the structure file again.
Inference Examples
Load SaProt for Forward Inference
python - <<'PY'
import torch
from transformers import EsmTokenizer, EsmForMaskedLM
model_path = "weight/PLMs/SaProt_650M_AF2"
device = "cuda" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu"
tokenizer = EsmTokenizer.from_pretrained(model_path)
model = EsmForMaskedLM.from_pretrained(model_path)
model.to(device)
model.eval()
seq = "M#EvVpQpL#VyQdYaKv"
tokens = tokenizer.tokenize(seq)
print(tokens)
inputs = tokenizer(seq, return_tensors="pt")
inputs = {k: v.to(device) for k, v in inputs.items()}
with torch.no_grad():
outputs = model(**inputs)
print(outputs.logits.shape)
PY
Load SaProt with the ESM Interface
If the model directory contains SaProt_650M_AF2.pt, you can use the ESM loading function provided by the project:
python - <<'PY'
from scripts.utils.esm_loader import load_esm_saprot
model_path = "weight/PLMs/SaProt_650M_AF2/SaProt_650M_AF2.pt"
model, alphabet = load_esm_saprot(model_path)
print("ESM SaProt load OK")
PY
Convert a Structure File to a Structure-Aware Sequence
python - <<'PY'
from scripts.utils.foldseek_util import get_struc_seq
pdb_path = "scripts/example/8ac8.cif"
parsed_seqs = get_struc_seq("scripts/bin/foldseek", pdb_path, ["A"], plddt_mask=False)["A"]
seq, foldseek_seq, combined_seq = parsed_seqs
print(f"seq: {seq}")
print(f"foldseek_seq: {foldseek_seq}")
print(f"combined_seq: {combined_seq}")
PY
The A chain selection extracts only chain A from the structure file. The combined_seq in the returned result is a structure-aware sequence that can be used directly by SaProt.
Mutation Effect Prediction
python - <<'PY'
import torch
from model.saprot.saprot_foldseek_mutation_model import SaprotFoldseekMutationModel
config = {
"foldseek_path": None,
"config_path": "weight/PLMs/SaProt_650M_AF2",
"load_pretrained": True,
}
model = SaprotFoldseekMutationModel(**config)
tokenizer = model.tokenizer
device = "cuda" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu"
model.eval()
model.to(device)
seq = "M#EvVpQpL#VyQdYaKv"
mut_info = "V3A"
mut_value = model.predict_mut(seq, mut_info)
print(mut_value)
mut_info = "V3A:Q4M"
mut_value = model.predict_mut(seq, mut_info)
print(mut_value)
mut_pos = 3
mut_dict = model.predict_pos_mut(seq, mut_pos)
print(mut_dict)
mut_pos = 3
mut_dict = model.predict_pos_prob(seq, mut_pos)
print(mut_dict)
PY
Extract Protein Embeddings
python - <<'PY'
import torch
from model.saprot.base import SaprotBaseModel
from transformers import EsmTokenizer
config = {
"task": "base",
"config_path": "weight/PLMs/SaProt_650M_AF2",
"load_pretrained": True,
}
model = SaprotBaseModel(**config)
tokenizer = EsmTokenizer.from_pretrained(config["config_path"])
device = "cuda" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu"
model.to(device)
model.eval()
seq = "M#EvVpQpL#VyQdYaKv"
tokens = tokenizer.tokenize(seq)
print(tokens)
inputs = tokenizer(seq, return_tensors="pt")
inputs = {k: v.to(device) for k, v in inputs.items()}
with torch.no_grad():
embeddings = model.get_hidden_states(inputs, reduction="mean")
print(embeddings[0].shape)
PY
Protein Inverse Folding
Inverse folding requires additional inverse folding model weights:
https://huggingface.co/westlake-repl/SaProt_650M_AF2_inverse_folding
After downloading, place them at:
weight/PLMs/SaProt_650M_AF2_inverse_folding
Example:
python - <<'PY'
import torch
from model.saprot.saprot_if_model import SaProtIFModel
config = {
"config_path": "weight/PLMs/SaProt_650M_AF2_inverse_folding",
"load_pretrained": True,
}
device = "cuda" if torch.cuda.is_available() else "cpu"
model = SaProtIFModel(**config)
model = model.to(device)
aa_seq = "##########"
struc_seq = "dddddddddd"
pred_aa_seq = model.predict(aa_seq, struc_seq)
print(pred_aa_seq)
PY
Training
This repository uses a unified training entry point:
python scripts/training.py -c <config_path>
Configuration files are located in conf/, model code is located in model/, and data processing and utility code is located in scripts/. The current configuration uses the pretrained model weights in weight/PLMs/SaProt_650M_AF2 by default.
Pretraining
To pretrain SaProt from scratch or continue pretraining, first prepare the pretraining LMDB dataset, then run:
python scripts/training.py -c conf/pretrain/saprot.yaml
This configuration reads from the following paths by default:
scripts/LMDB/AF2_Uniref50/foldseek/train
scripts/LMDB/AF2_Uniref50/foldseek/valid
Downstream Fine-Tuning
Use the following commands to fine-tune SaProt on downstream tasks:
# Thermostability
python scripts/training.py -c conf/Thermostability/saprot.yaml
# EC
python scripts/training.py -c conf/EC/saprot.yaml
# GO
python scripts/training.py -c conf/GO/MF/saprot.yaml
python scripts/training.py -c conf/GO/BP/saprot.yaml
python scripts/training.py -c conf/GO/CC/saprot.yaml
# Metal ion binding
python scripts/training.py -c conf/MetalIonBinding/saprot.yaml
# Human PPI
python scripts/training.py -c conf/HumanPPI/saprot.yaml
# Contact prediction
python scripts/training.py -c conf/Contact/saprot.yaml
# DeepLoc
python scripts/training.py -c conf/DeepLoc/cls2/saprot.yaml
python scripts/training.py -c conf/DeepLoc/cls10/saprot.yaml
For single-GPU or limited-memory environments, use conf/scnet/Thermostability_saprot_1gpu.yaml as a starting point:
python scripts/training.py -c conf/scnet/Thermostability_saprot_1gpu.yaml
Zero-Shot Mutation Effect Evaluation
ProteinGym evaluation:
python scripts/mutation_zeroshot.py -c conf/ProteinGym/saprot.yaml
The output file is saved by default to:
output/ProteinGym/SaProt_650M_AF2.tsv
ClinVar evaluation:
python scripts/mutation_zeroshot.py -c conf/ClinVar/saprot.yaml
python scripts/compute_clinvar_auc.py -c conf/ClinVar/saprot.yaml
ClinVar prediction results are saved by default to:
output/ClinVar/SaProt_650M_AF2
Single-GPU environments can also use the adapted configuration:
python scripts/mutation_zeroshot.py -c conf/scnet/ClinVar_saprot.yaml
python scripts/compute_clinvar_auc.py -c conf/scnet/ClinVar_saprot.yaml
ESM2 Comparison Experiment
To run the ESM2 baseline, additionally prepare the weights in weight/PLMs/esm2_t33_650M_UR50D and the corresponding normal LMDB data. Example commands:
python scripts/training.py -c conf/Thermostability/esm2.yaml
python scripts/mutation_zeroshot.py -c conf/ProteinGym/esm2.yaml
Output Description
| Task | Main output |
|---|---|
| Structure encoding | AA sequence, 3Di sequence, and structure-aware sequence |
| Model forward pass | Token-level logits |
| Protein representation | Residue-level/protein-level embeddings |
| Mutation effect prediction | Mutation score |
| Zero-shot evaluation | ProteinGym Spearman results or ClinVar AUC results |
| Inverse folding | Protein sequences generated or evaluated under structural conditions |
| Downstream fine-tuning | Prediction results and model checkpoint for the corresponding task |
Official OneScience Information
| Platform | Main OneScience repository | Skills repository |
|---|---|---|
| Gitee | https://gitee.com/onescience-ai/onescience | https://gitee.com/onescience-ai/oneskills |
| GitHub | https://github.com/onescience-ai/OneScience | https://github.com/onescience-ai/oneskills |
Citation and License
The official SaProt source repository is released under the MIT License, which permits use, modification, distribution, sublicensing, and commercial use. When copying or distributing it, retain the original copyright notice and the MIT License text.
SaProt model weights are released independently through Hugging Face. For commercial use, redistribution, or other purposes, check and comply with the license on each corresponding model page. The relevant pretraining and downstream datasets are also subject to the licenses and terms of use on their respective dataset pages.
This repository is a DCU-adapted version of SaProt. Use of the repository code, model weights, and related data remains subject to the licenses and terms of use of their respective original projects.