PDB code
From PDBWiki
A PDB code is the primary identifier by which entries can be retrieved from the Protein Data Bank.
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[edit] Usage
Structures deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) are assigned a unique four letter code which is often called PDB accession code or PDB code. Because of the PDB's importance as the central repository for biological macromolecular structures, the PDB code is often used in the scientific literature to refer to a particular structure which has been used in a study.
[edit] Conventions
By convention, the PDB code consists of a single numeric digit followed by three alphanumeric characters. The PDB code is not case sensitive, i.e. 1abc and 1ABC refer to the same structure. For classification purposes, e.g. for the directory structure of the PDB archive, the two middle characters (the second and third character of the PDB code) are sometimes used as an index to group PDB codes into not too large and equally sized bins. This two-letter code is preferred over the first and second character because the number of possible values for the first character is limited to the ten digits and the majority of PDB codes in use starts with the character '1'. The two-letter code is also used in PDBWiki for grouping and ordering PDB entries.
[edit] Number of PDB codes
The theoretical number of possible PDB codes is 10*(26+10)*(26+10)*(26+10)=466560.
[edit] Examples
Some good PDB codes are ... 2o12, 1ego, 1faq, 1pdb, 1msd, 1pqs, 1sux, 1and, 1ooh!
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- The definition of a 'PDB ID' in the RCSB 'robohelp' system [1]
- Proteinstructure.org an openfree proteinstructure portal.
