Irina Persikova - wwPDB Biocuration: Supporting Advances in Science and Technology

Session: April 26 - Community 2

Abstract: The Protein Data Bank (PDB) was established in 1971 as the first open-access digital data resource in biology with just seven X-ray crystallographic structures of proteins. Today, the single global PDB archive houses more than 200,000 experimentally determined three-dimensional (3D) structures of biological macromolecules that are made freely available to millions of users worldwide with no limitations on usage. This information facilitates basic and applied research and education across the sciences, impacting fundamental biology, biomedicine, biotechnology, bioengineering, and energy sciences. The Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB, wwpdb.org) jointly manages the PDB, EMDB, and BMRB Core Archives and is committed to making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR). As the PDB grows, developments in structure determination methods and technologies can challenge how structures are represented and evaluated. wwPDB Biocurators work together with community experts to ensure the standards for deposition, biocuration and data quality assessment align with advances in this rapidly evolving field. The wwPDB deposition-biocuration-validation system, OneDep, is constantly enhanced with extended metadata, enumeration lists, and improved data checking. PDBx/mmCIF dictionary at the core of the wwPDB data deposition, biocuration, and archiving, is regularly updated to provide controlled vocabulary and boundary ranges that reflect the current state of various experimental techniques and ensure accuracy and completeness of deposited metadata. wwPDB Biocurators promote community-driven development and usage of the PDBx/mmCIF dictionary. wwPDB continuously incorporates new and improved data assessment metrics to maintain state-of-the-art validation tools. wwPDB engages working groups of community experts to provide recommendations for improving the wwPDB data validation protocols. In this presentation we provide an overview of the wwPDB Biocurators efforts in promoting enriched data dictionary development, improving data validation standards, and fostering community engagement in data standard setting to support advances in science.