ANALYSIS OF DIHEDRAL ANGLE VARIABILITY IN RELATED PROTEIN STRUCTURES

Similarity or variability of protein structures is usually measured by superposition of structures and then assessed by root mean square deviation of the superposed main chain atoms. The relationship between equivalent main chain atoms (or Cα atoms) and the variability in their dihedral angles has been assessed in this work. Proteins with identical sequences (or point mutants), those with homologous structures, and those whose structures have been determined by NMR were used to assess such relationship.