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Updated: May 10, 2026
16:41
A Protocol for Computer-Based Protein Structure and Function Prediction
Published on: November 3, 2011
Estimating structure quality trends in the Protein Data Bank by equivalent resolution
Anurag Bagaria1, Victor Jaravine, Peter Güntert
1Institute of Biophysical Chemistry, Center for Biomolecular Magnetic Resonance, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. anurag.bagaria@bpc.uni-frankfurt.de
Computational Biology and Chemistry
|June 12, 2013
Summary
A new "e-resolution" metric assesses protein structure quality across all experimental methods. This metric reveals that newly introduced techniques rapidly evolve to achieve quality comparable to established methods in the Protein Data Bank.
Area of Science:
- Structural Biology
- Biophysics
- Computational Biology
Background:
- Protein structure determination methods yield variable data quality.
- Existing quality metrics are method-specific, limiting cross-method comparisons.
- The Protein Data Bank classifies structures by experimental method.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce a unified metric, equivalent X-ray resolution (e-resolution), for assessing protein structure quality.
- To evaluate the quality evolution of structures determined by different experimental methods over two decades.
- To compare the performance and convergence of various protein structure determination techniques.
Main Methods:
- Development of an "e-resolution" metric applicable to all monomeric, single-chain protein structures.
- Analysis of trends in Protein Data Bank entries over the last 20 years.
- Comparison of structure quality across five distinct experimental techniques.
Main Results:
- The e-resolution metric provides a consistent quality measure across diverse experimental methods.
- Newly introduced methods show rapid improvement in structure quality within years.
- Structure quality from different methods converges to comparable levels over time.
- Established methods demonstrate stable, high-quality performance.
Conclusions:
- The e-resolution metric offers a universal approach to evaluating protein structure quality.
- Emerging experimental techniques mature quickly, achieving quality on par with established methods.
- This unified assessment aids in understanding and improving protein structure data reliability.
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