Atom Nomenclature for RNA

The atom nomenclature in PDB data files was revised with the release of data in the PDB Format Version 3.0. These changes make the PDB atom names used by PDB compliant with existing IUPAC nomenclature for standard amino acid and nucleotides (Pure & Appl. Chem., 70, 117-142, 1998) with the exception of the well established convention for C-terminal atoms OXT and HXT. A small number of additional changes were introduced in Version 3 to make atom labeling more conventional. The following chemical diagrams and tables provide the correspondences between atom names used in Version 3 and Version 2 PDB formats.

Labeled Chemical Diagrams

Chemical diagram with format V3 atom labels (heavy atoms)
Chemical diagram with format V3 atom labels (all atoms)
Chemical diagram with format V2 atom labels (heavy atoms)
Chemical diagram with format V2 atom labels (all atoms)

Atom Name Correspondences for RNA

Atom Name (V3) Atom Name (V2)
C C
C1 C1
C2 C2
O O
C3 C3
C4 C4
C5 C5
S S
C6 C6
N N
S1 S1
C7 C7
C8 C8
C9 C9
C10 C10
C11 C11
C12 C12
C13 C13
O14 O14
O1 O1
C15 C15
N1 N1
O2 O2
C16 C16
H131 1H13
H132 2H13
H133 3H13
H11 H11
H12 H12
H8 H8
H9 H9
HN HN
H16 H16
H1 H1
H H
H41 1H4
H42 2H4
H43 3H4