The Protein Data Bank

TLDR

The Protein Data Bank is the world’s sole archive of primary structural data for biological macromolecules, serving as the foundation for structural bioinformatics and the source of many secondary databases. This article outlines the PDB’s objectives, deposition and access systems, information retrieval methods, and future development plans. It details the mechanisms for data deposition, access, and information retrieval, and discusses future development strategies.

Abstract

The Protein Data Bank [PDB; Berman, Westbrook et al. (2000), Nucleic Acids Res. 28 , 235–242; http://www.pdb.org/] is the single worldwide archive of primary structural data of biological macromolecules. Many secondary sources of information are derived from PDB data. It is the starting point for studies in structural bioinformatics. This article describes the goals of the PDB, the systems in place for data deposition and access, how to obtain further information and plans for the future development of the resource. The reader should come away with an understanding of the scope of the PDB and what is provided by the resource.