PDBWiki is a user contributed database of protein structure annotations, listing all the protein structures currently available in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The aims of PDBWiki, focusing on user contributed annotation and classification, have been met by the use of the MediaWiki software system, making PDBWiki a 'Wiki-Database'.

Motivation

The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is the central archive of experimentally solved biomolecular structures. However, the PDB only allows data retrieval and does not provide functionality for collaboration or user feedback. In contrast, PDBWiki is a website for sharing expert knowledge about structures deposited in the PDB. Using the same MediaWiki system underlying Wikipedia it provides online tools for discussing and annotating proteins in a collaborative way. The goal is to create a central and freely accessible repository of user-contributed information that will be useful for anyone working with PDB structures. As such PDBWiki can be considered a part of a wider effort in community-based biological databases curation.

Database content

Currently PDBWiki contains details of more than 50,000 protein structures and over 50 'user-contributed' annotations, making it a significant resource for the structural biology community.

About

PDBWiki was developed as part of the BioWiki initiative, and was entered into the third International Openfree Bioinformation Contents Competition organised by BiO.CC, the top level biological information web site operated by KOBIC.

References

Related resources

• Proteopedia - The collaborative, 3D encyclopedia of proteins and other molecules.
• The WikiProject Molecular and Cellular Biology.
• EcoliWiki is the community annotation component of EcoliHub whose goal is to provide an information resource on the model organism E. coli K-12, phages, plasmids, and mobile genetic elements.
• See also About PDBWiki

External links

• The PDBWiki homepage
• The Protein Data Bank