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PDB-101 Focus: Peak Performance
08/19 
Since 2014, PDB-101 has focused on different topics to help build a collection molecular stories around a particular theme. Past topics have included cancer and diabetes.
In 2025, PDB-101 will highlight the structural stories of Peak Performance: the structural biology of athletics and well-being.
Athletes require bodies that are the best that is possible, all the way from molecules to muscles. By understanding the structure and function of our molecules, athletes can ensure that they are performing at their peak. This knowledge also informs the ways that we all can live our best lives, at all stages of our lives.
Visit the PDB-101 Peak Performance Browser for resources such as:
Vitamin A plays a crucial role in vision by converting light into electrical signals. At the heart of this process are rhodopsin proteins (purple) found in the retina, a light-sensing tissue at the back of the eye. Vitamin A is the precursor to retinal (yellow), which is nestled within the active site of rhodopsin. When light strikes retinal, it transforms from its cis form to its trans form (see inset), allowing rhodopsin to bind and activate its associated G-protein complex (green). This process sets off a cascade of events that ultimately leads to the perception of light.
Visit the 2025 Calendar: The Structural Biology of Nutrition to learn more.
Illustration by RCSB PDB intern Xinyi Christine Zhang.
Learn more in the article Molecule of the Month: Carotenoid Oxygenase
