Today, thousands of databases with biological data are publicly available. They include data on gene and protein sequences and detailed measurements of different cellular parameters, such as the exact quantities of all proteins produced and degraded by a given cell in various experimental conditions. Brazilian researchers explored mRNA and protein public databases and found out how gene sequence choice can predict different aspects of protein synthesis, such as protein production efficiency. The study, published in Nucleic Acids Research, could help the development of new biotechnological applications of genes and proteins.