Data Publication and Dissemination with the Structural Biology Data Grid

Access to experimental X-ray diffraction image data is fundamental for validation and reproduction of macromolecular models and indispensable for development of structural biology processing methods. In response to evolving needs of the structural biology community, we established a diffraction data publication and dissemination system, Structural Biology Data Grid (SBDG, url: data.sbgrid.org), to preserve primary experimental datasets that support journal publications. Datasets archived with the SBDG are freely available to the research community under a public domain dedication license and the metadata for all datasets is published under the DataCite schema. Datasets are accessible to researchers through the Data Access Alliance infrastructure, which facilitates global and institutional data access. Our analysis of a pilot collection of crystallographic datasets demonstrates that the information archived by SBDG is sufficient to reprocess data to statistics that meet or exceed the quality of the original published structures. It is anticipated that access to the experimental datasets will enable paradigm shift in the community from the static archive towards a much more dynamic body of continuously improving refined models. Following the success of this pilot study, the SBDG has extended its services to the entire community and will be used to develop support for other types of biomedical datasets, such as MicroED, Molecular Dynamics trajectories and LaPice Light-Sheet Microscopy.