Protein Data Bank: 50 Years of Macromolecular Structures Enabling Research and Education

Abstract

The Protein Data Bank (PDB) was established in 1971 as the first open-access digital data resource in biology. Beginning with only seven protein structures, the PDB archive has ballooned to >170,000 structures of proteins, DNA, and RNA (totaling >1 billion atoms). Today, the PDB is universally regarded as a core data science resource of fundamental importance to the wider life-science community and long-term preservation of machine-readable biological data. PDB structures are the molecules of life. Knowledge of 3D structures (shapes) of biomolecules, how they evolve with time, and how they function in nature is essential for understanding critical areas of science. PDB data impacts basic and applied research on health and disease of humans, animals, and plants;production of food and energy;and other research pertaining to global prosperity and environmental sustainability. Structure data are also important to biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, accelerating data-driven discovery of new drugs, materials, and devices. Today, powerful pulsed X-ray facilities, cryogenic electron microscopes, and new integrative/hybrid (I/H) methods for structure determination are accelerating biomedical research with functional insights into ever more complex biological systems at the atomic level. Cryo-electron tomography even allows study of molecular machines ?caught in the act? inside frozen cells. The PDB is managed by the Worldwide Protein Data Bank partnership (wwPDB;wwpdb.org). RCSB PDB (RCSB.org) operates the US wwPDB data center, and makes PDB data available at no charge and without limitations. The 50th anniversary of the PDB archive is being celebrated with special symposia and related resources, including a May 4-5 virtual meeting hosted by the ASBMB. These celebrations will include first hand accounts traversing five decades from the beginnings of structural biology all the way to ongoing efforts aimed at combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.