The Protein Data Bank has over 200,000 structures.
Structural biology is an important field in drug discovery as it helps researchers understand the three-dimensional structure of proteins and how they interact with other molecules. This knowledge is crucial in developing new drugs as it allows scientists to target specific proteins and understand how they contribute to diseases.
One of the most important resources in structural biology is the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The PDB is a database that contains the 3D structures of thousands of proteins, which can be used by researchers to study the structure and function of these proteins. The PDB is a valuable tool for drug discovery as it allows scientists to analyze the structure of disease-causing proteins and identify potential drug targets.
1. The deposited structural data helps to develop new drugs and supports biomedical research
The PDB allows for the comparison of different protein structures, which can help researchers identify common structural features that are important for disease progression. By understanding these features, scientists can develop new drugs that target these specific regions, which can help to improve the effectiveness of treatments.
The publication by Goodsell et al. 2010 reported that ∼90% of the 210 new therapeutics approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 2010 and 2016 were discovered partly due to the PDB archive holdings.
2. Database for AI/ML training
The public access to the PDB data laid the groundwork for the development of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning methods for predicting protein structures. Currently, the collection requires more than 1 TB of storage and containing more than 3,000,000 files associated with these PDB entries.
In addition to providing structural information, the PDB also contains information on protein-ligand interactions, which can be used to understand how drugs bind to their targets. This information can be used to design new drugs that specifically target disease-causing proteins, improving their efficacy and reducing side effects.
3. Over 50 years of research
Since its inception in 1971, structural biologists from all over the globe have contributed their experimentally determined protein and nucleic acid structure data. It is because of their efforts that this central, public database has attained this important milestone.
We say thank you to all contributors and structural biologists who put tremendous efforts in solving 3D structures and achieving the milestone of 200,000 structures.