X-ray Crystallography Method for Determining Atomic Structures

All structures available in the Protein Data Bank were studied experimentally. The three main techniques used are X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy, and 3D electron microscopy. The chart Number of Released PDB Structures per Year illustrates the annual growth in usage of each method per year since the start of the archive.

This GIF animation abstracts the main steps of the X-ray Crystallography method. To learn more, visit this page for narrated short videos on the three main methods and PDB-101’s Methods for Determining Atomic Structures for more detailed introduction.

This GIF is an excerpt from the animation Celebrating 50 Years of the Protein Data Bank Archive.