The Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB), the US data center for the global PDB archive and a founding member of the Worldwide Protein Data Bank partnership, serves tens of thousands of data depositors in the Americas and Oceania and makes 3D macromolecular structure data available at no charge and without restrictions to millions of RCSB.org users around the world, including >660 000 educators, students and members of the curious public using PDB101.RCSB.org. PDB data depositors include structural biologists using macromolecular crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, 3D electron microscopy and micro-electron diffraction. PDB data consumers accessing our web portals include researchers, educators and students studying fundamental biology, biomedicine, biotechnology, bioengineering and energy sciences. During the past 2 years, the research-focused RCSB PDB web portal (RCSB.org) has undergone a complete redesign, enabling improved searching with full Boolean operator logic and more facile access to PDB data integrated with >40 external biodata resources. New features and resources are described in detail using examples that showcase recently released structures of SARS-CoV-2 proteins and host cell proteins relevant to understanding and addressing the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB, rcsb.org), the US data center for the global PDB archive, serves thousands of Data Depositors in the Americas and Oceania and makes 3D macromolecular structure data available at no charge and without usage restrictions to more than 1 million rcsb.org Users worldwide and 600 000 pdb101.rcsb.org education-focused Users around the globe. PDB Data Depositors include structural biologists using macromolecular crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and 3D electron microscopy. PDB Data Consumers include researchers, educators and students studying Fundamental Biology, Biomedicine, Biotechnology and Energy. Recent reorganization of RCSB PDB activities into four integrated, interdependent services is described in detail, together with tools and resources added over the past 2 years to RCSB PDB web portals in support of a ‘Structural View of Biology.’

The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is the single global archive of experimentally determined three-dimensional (3D) structure data of biological macromolecules. Since 2003, the PDB has been managed by the Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB; wwpdb.org), an international consortium that collaboratively oversees deposition, validation, biocuration, and open access dissemination of 3D macromolecular structure data. The PDB Core Archive houses 3D atomic coordinates of more than 144 000 structural models of proteins, DNA/RNA, and their complexes with metals and small molecules and related experimental data and metadata. Structure and experimental data/metadata are also stored in the PDB Core Archive using the readily extensible wwPDB PDBx/mmCIF master data format, which will continue to evolve as data/metadata from new experimental techniques and structure determination methods are incorporated by the wwPDB. Impacts of the recently developed universal wwPDB OneDep deposition/validation/biocuration system and various methods-specific wwPDB Validation Task Forces on improving the quality of structures and data housed in the PDB Core Archive are described together with current challenges and future plans.

SummaryThe Worldwide PDB recently launched a deposition, biocuration, and validation tool: OneDep. At various stages of OneDep data processing, validation reports for three-dimensional structures of biological macromolecules are produced. These reports are based on recommendations of expert task forces representing crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance, and cryoelectron microscopy communities. The reports provide useful metrics with which depositors can evaluate the quality of the experimental data, the structural model, and the fit between them. The validation module is also available as a stand-alone web server and as a programmatically accessible web service. A growing number of journals require the official wwPDB validation reports (produced at biocuration) to accompany manuscripts describing macromolecular structures. Upon public release of the structure, the validation report becomes part of the public PDB archive. Geometric quality scores for proteins in the PDB archive have improved over the past decade.

The Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB), founding member of the Worldwide Protein Data Bank (wwPDB), is the US data center for the open-access PDB archive. As wwPDB-designated Archive Keeper, RCSB PDB is also responsible for PDB data security. Annually, RCSB PDB serves >10 000 depositors of three-dimensional (3D) biostructures working on all permanently inhabited continents. RCSB PDB delivers data from its research-focused RCSB.org web portal to many millions of PDB data consumers based in virtually every United Nations-recognized country, territory, etc. This Database Issue contribution describes upgrades to the research-focused RCSB.org web portal that created a one-stop-shop for open access to ∼200 000 experimentally-determined PDB structures of biological macromolecules alongside >1 000 000 incorporated Computed Structure Models (CSMs) predicted using artificial intelligence/machine learning methods. RCSB.org is a ‘living data resource.’ Every PDB structure and CSM is integrated weekly with related functional annotations from external biodata resources, providing up-to-date information for the entire corpus of 3D biostructure data freely available from RCSB.org with no usage limitations. Within RCSB.org, PDB structures and the CSMs are clearly identified as to their provenance and reliability. Both are fully searchable, and can be analyzed and visualized using the full complement of RCSB.org web portal capabilities.