Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:18:38 -0500
From: Jacob Keller
Subject: Understanding Conformational Differences
Dear Crystallographers,
I am looking at ~20 unique crystal structures of the same protein in
somewhat different conformations, although not radically different,
and
would like to order them somehow to gain an understanding of how the
protein
can move. Is there software that does this somewhat automatically?
Hi Jacob,
You can morph between multiple conformations of similar or identical
structures with UCSF Chimera's Morph Conformations tool (http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/current/docs/ContributedSoftware/morph/morph.html
). Chimera can also cluster structure conformations (identical
structures only) with its Ensemble Cluster tool (http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera/current/docs/ContributedSoftware/ensemblecluster/ensemblecluster.html
). That tool can also select representative conformers for each
cluster.
More information about Chimera and a download link can be found on
the Chimera home page: http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/chimera
--Eric
Eric Pettersen
UCSF Computer Graphics Lab
