Deposition and release of macromolecular structural data.

Abstract

There has been much recent discussion on the issue of the deposition and release of macromolecular structural data [see editorials in Nature, 391, 617 (1998) and Nature Structural Biology, 5, 83±84 and 165±166 (1998) and the letter from Wlodawer et al. in Science, 16 January 1998]. These editorials and letters rightly point out the critical value that macromolecular structural data now have for biology and medicine and the need to make these data available to the wider scienti®c community. The crystallographic community has in fact been at the forefront of efforts to ensure that these data should be deposited, for the general good. Some ten years ago, extensive consultation by the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr), through its Commission on Biological Macromolecules, led to a set of guidelines that were intended to encourage deposition of structural data (both atomic coordinates and structure-factor amplitudes) with the Protein Data Bank (PDB). This action has been manifestly successful. Prior to that time, few journals made any requirements and deposition was largely voluntary. Now almost all journals require that at least the coordinates are deposited, and there is widespread acceptance that this should be so. The original IUCr guidelines included a provision that release of the data might be delayed for a period after deposition (coordinates for 1 year, structure-factor amplitudes for 4 years). This was essentially a compromise, acknowledging the risky long-term nature of the research and its often `un®nished' nature at the time of initial publication. It is this temporary `hold' provision that has been the focus of current attention. The issue is much wider than this, however, involving deposition practice as well as the question of release. The Commission on Biological Macromolecules, on behalf of the IUCr, has therefore engaged in extensive discussion aimed at reviewing the original guidelines. Below, we summarize some of the issues, and set out proposals for the future.