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International
Tables for Crystallography Volume G Definition and exchange of crystallographic data Edited by S. R. Hall and B. McMahon © International Union of Crystallography 2006 |
International Tables for Crystallography (2006). Vol. G. ch. 3.6, pp. 186-187
Section 3.6.7.5.6. External databases
P. M. D. Fitzgerald,a* J. D. Westbrook,b P. E. Bourne,c B. McMahon,d K. D. Watenpaughe and H. M. Bermanf
a
Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, New Jersey, USA,bProtein Data Bank, Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, 610 Taylor Road, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA,cResearch Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics, San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0537, USA,dInternational Union of Crystallography, 5 Abbey Square, Chester CH1 2HU, England,eretired; formerly Structural, Analytical and Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacia Corporation, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA, and fProtein Data Bank, Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, 610 Taylor Road, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA |
The data items in these categories are as follows:
![[Scheme scheme164]](/schemes/Gach3o6scheme164.gif)
![[Scheme scheme165]](/schemes/Gach3o6scheme165.gif)
![[Scheme scheme166]](/schemes/Gach3o6scheme166.gif)
The bullet (![[\bullet]](/teximages/a1ach2o1/a1ach2o1fi16.svg)
) indicates a category key. Where multiple items within a category are marked with a bullet, they must be taken together to form a compound key. The arrow (![[\rightarrow]](/teximages/abch3o1/abch3o1fi527.svg)
) is a reference to a parent data item.
Data items in the STRUCT_REF category allow the author of an mmCIF to provide references to information in external databases that is relevant to the entities or biological units described in the mmCIF. For example, the database entry for a protein or nucleic acid sequence could be referenced and any differences between the sequence of the macromolecule whose structure is reported in the mmCIF and the sequence of the related entry in the external database can be recorded. Alternatively, references to external database entries can be used to record the relationship of the structure reported in the mmCIF to structures already reported in the literature, for example by referring to previously determined structures of the same or a similar protein, or to a small-molecule structure determination of a bound inhibitor or cofactor. STRUCT_REF data items are not intended to be used to reference a database entry for the structure in the mmCIF itself (this would be the role of data items in the DATABASE_2 category), but it would not be formally incorrect to do so.
When the data items in these categories are used to provide references to external database entries describing the sequence of a polymer, data items from all three categories could be used. The value of the data item _struct_ref.seq_align is used to indicate whether the correspondence between the sequence of the entity or biological unit in the mmCIF and the sequence in the related external database entry is complete or partial. If the value is partial, the region (or regions) of the alignment may be identified using data items in the STRUCT_REF_SEQ category. Comments on the alignment may be given in _struct_ref_seq.details (Example 3.6.7.13![[link]](/graphics/greenarr.gif)
).
Example 3.6.7.13. The relationship of the sequence of the protein PDB 5HVP to a sequence in an external database described with data items in the STRUCT_REF and STRUCT_REF_SEQ categories.
![[Scheme scheme167]](/schemes/Gach3o6scheme167.gif)
The value of the data item _struct_ref.seq_dif is used to indicate whether the two sequences contain point differences. If the value is yes, the differences may be identified and annotated using data items in the STRUCT_REF_SEQ_DIF category. Comments on specific point differences may be recorded in _struct_ref_seq_dif.details.
References do not have to be to entries in databases of sequences: any external database can be referenced. For other kinds of databases, only the data items in the STRUCT_REF category would usually be used. The element of the structure that is referenced could be either an entity or a biological unit, that is, either a building block of the structure or a structurally meaningful assembly of those building blocks. Since the identification of the part of the structure being linked to an entry in an external database can be made using either _struct_ref.biol_id or _struct_ref.entity_id, and since any part of the structure could be linked to any number of entries in external databases, the data item _struct_ref.id was introduced as the category key.
