This resource is powered by the Protein Data Bank archive-information about the 3D shapes of proteins, nucleic acids, and complex assemblies that helps students and researchers understand all aspects of biomedicine and agriculture, from protein synthesis to health and disease.
As a member of the wwPDB, the RCSB PDB curates and annotates PDB data.
The RCSB PDB builds upon the data by creating tools and resources for research and education in molecular biology, structural biology, computational biology, and beyond.
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Deposition Preparation Tools
Data Extraction
pdb_extract: Extract and harvest data in PDBx/mmCIF format from structure determination programs
SF-Tool: Convert structure factor files among various formats
Small Molecules
Ligand Expo: Search the Chemical Component Dictionary for the IDs of released ligands
Data Format Conversion
PDBML2CIF: Convert PDBML-format data into PDBx/mmCIF-format
PointSuite: Generate symmetry records for macromolecular assemblies with point and helical symmetries
MAXIT: Translate data between file formats and more
Validation Services
Validation reports contain an assessment of the quality of a structure and highlight specific concerns by considering the coordinates of the model, the experimental data and the fit between the two. Easily interpretable summary information that compares the quality of a model with that of other models in the archive will help users of PDB data to critically assess archived entries and to select the most appropriate structural models for their needs. These reports are developed using the recommendations of thewwPDB Validation Task Forces.
Reports for released entries are available from Structure Summary pages.
Validation reports for manuscript reviewers are created during annotation of deposited structures.
Have non-atomic coordinates, multi-scale structures obtained through integrative/hybrid (I/H) methods? Deposit at PDB-Dev which is a prototype deposition and archiving system for structural models obtained through integrative/hybrid (I/H) methods.
From any page on the site, a Basic Search can be run by entering a search term in the top Search Bar.
As you enter a term, you will see suggestions appearing in the dropdown menu that appears below the search bar. The suggestions are grouped by attribute name, indicating in the specific field or fields in which the search term was found.
You can click on an item in the dropdown menu to see results matching only that particular attribute, or click the
Search icon to see results matching multiple fields.
Advanced Search
The Advanced Search Query Builder tool allows you to construct complex boolean queries by specifying values for a wide range of structure attributes.
Text-based queries can be combined with sequence and structure similarity searches.
Search results can be returned at the structure, entity, or assembly level, and viewed in a variety of formats, for example, as a summary view, an images only gallery view, or in a Tabular Report format.
Any query and its results can be further refined by selecting additional criteria from the 'Refinements' panel.
Search protein and nucleic acid sequences using the mmseqs2 method to find similar protein or nucleic acid chains in the PDB.
The new Advanced Search Query Builder tool can be used to run sequence searches, and to combine the results with the other search criteria that are available.
Phase I: Every Saturday by 3:00 UTC, for every new entry, wwPDB website provides sequence(s) (amino acid or nucleotide) for each distinct polymer and, where appropriate, the InChI string(s) for each distinct ligand and the crystallization pH value(s).
Phase II: Every Wednesday by 00:00 UTC, all new and modified data entries will be updated at each of the wwPDB FTP sites.
Explore metabolic pathways maps that identify pathway components with PDB structures and homology models.
Maps can be accessed from the Protein View (see example P29401), and the main Pathway View page.
Protein Feature View
Provides a graphical summary of a full-length protein sequence from UniProt and how it corresponds to PDB entries. It also loads annotations from external databases (such as Pfam) and homology models information from the Protein Model Portal. Annotations visualizing predicted regions of protein disorder and hydrophobic regions are displayed.
This feature is available from the Molecular Description widget on Structure Summary pages and by entering a UniProt ID below.
Human Gene View
Illustrates the correspondences between the human genome and 3D structure. All human genes have been mapped to representative PDB structure protein chains (selected from sequence clusters at 40% sequence identity) to show which regions of a gene are available in PDB coordinates.
This feature is available from the Molecular Description widget on Structure Summary pages and by entering an HGNC Human Gene Symbol below (examples).
Sequence & Structure Alignment
RCSB PDB's Comparison Tool calculates pairwise sequence (blast2seq, Needleman-Wunsch, and Smith-Waterman) and structure alignments (FATCAT, CE, TopMatch).
Comparisons can be made for any protein in the PDB archive and for customized or local files not in the PDB. Special features include support for both rigid-body and flexible alignments and detection of circular permutations.
Protein Symmetry
The JSmol symmetry display mode (select the Symmetry button) highlights global, local, and helical symmetry among subunits. The view displays the symmetry axes, a polyhedron that reflects the symmetry, and a color scheme that emphasizes the symmetry.
Structure Summary pages provide access to information about structure quality.
The slider graphic compares important global quality indicators for a given structure with the PDB archive. Global percentile ranks (black vertical boxes) are calculated with respect to all X-ray structures available prior to 2011. Resolution-specific percentile ranks (white vertical boxes) are calculated considering entries with similar resolution.
This graphic is from the wwPDBValidation Report , which provides a more detailed assessment of the quality of a structure and highlights specific concerns. These reports were created using the recommendations of wwPDB Validation Task Forces.The full wwPDB Validation Report PDF is available for download. PDFs of Ramachandran plots (created by MolProbity) are provided to offer an independent method to evaluate the conformational quality of protein structures.
For examples, view the Structure Summary pages for 1CBS (1.8Å structure of a small protein and a ligand , an entry with better overall quality relative to all X-ray structures) and 1FCC (a 3.2Å structure with worse overall quality relative to all X-ray structures).
Map Genomic Position to Protein
Mutations in a gene can have profound effects on the function of a protein. This analysis tool highlights the location of a gene location (i.e., the site of a SNP).
Example of SNP in Breast Cancer 1 Gene
A TGT-to-GGT transversion in codon 64 of the BRCA1 gene leads to substitution of glycine for cysteine. This SNP is located on chromosome 17 at genomic coordinate: 43,106,478. The new mapping tool can be used to locate this position on the UniProt sequence and 3D structure.
EPPIC (Evolutionary Protein-Protein Interface Classifier) provides value-added information about biological assemblies in the PDB. This web server classifies interfaces present in protein crystals to distinguish biological interfaces from crystal contacts. EPPIC Version 3 enumerates all possible symmetric assemblies with a prediction of the most likely assembly based on probabilistic scores from pairwise evolutionary scoring.
Download: Coordinates & Experimental Data
Enter PDB IDs separated by comma or white space. Note: The Download Tool is launched as a stand-alone application using the Java Web Start protocol. More Download Help
Download: Sequences
Enter PDB IDs separated by comma or white space. Download Help
Enter ligand IDs separated by comma or white space. Download Help
FTP Services
Searches and reports performed on this RCSB PDB website utilize data from the PDB archive. The PDB archive is maintained by the wwPDB at at FTP archive, ftp.wwpdb.org (data download details) and Versioned FTP, ftp-versioned.wwpdb.org (Versioning details).
Major Directories
The directory pub/pdb is the entry directory for the ftp site.
The directory pub/pdb/data/structures/divided contains the current PDB contents including PDB, mmCIF, and PDBML/XML formatted coordinate files, structure factors and NMR restraints
PDB structure files, chemical component files, and several other files are available for download via http/https. These URLs are useful in scripted downloads using utilities such as wget.
Download the 2019 Annual Report (PDF) for an overview of activities relating to Deposition/Biocuration, Archive Management/Access, Data Exploration, and Outreach/Education.
