Abstract

SANCHEZ-LARA, Eduardo. From Myoglobin to SARS-CoV-2: ¡50 years of the Protein Data Bank!. Educ. quím [online]. 2022, vol.33, n.1, pp.50-63.  Epub Nov 11, 2022. ISSN 0187-893X.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fq.18708404e.2022.1.78881.

Myoglobin was the first protein visualized in 3D by X-ray crystallography, laying the foundation for a new era of biological understanding. From this point, a series of macromolecules of considerable biological interest began to be structurally determined. However, this extraordinary advance in life sciences contrasted with the absence of a global repository for archiving and sharing crystallographic data obtained from X-ray diffraction experiments. To fill this gap, the Protein Data Bank (PDB) was established at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1971, as an archive for biological macromolecules crystal structures. Established with just seven structures, the PDB has become a remarkable open-access database, storing structural data of more than 175,000 biomolecules, primarily proteins, DNA and RNA, and their complexes with associated small molecules. In addition to being a biological database, the PDB acts as an educational resource through PDB-101, offering a set of extraordinary tools for admiring the biological world. In this work, we celebrate the PDB’s 50th golden anniversary with a look at its history and a journey through some of the free tools the archive makes available to students, teachers, researchers, and the general audience. We have illustrated the value of these online educational resources with the archive´s recently deposited 3D biological machinery structure of the new severe acute respiratory syndrome-causing coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) or COVID-19.

Keywords : X-ray crystallography; Structural biology; Proteins; Virus; Educational resources; Popular science.

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