Oliviero, We published a paper in 2003 in which we normalized B-factors to do a comparison of relative mobility or flexibility. The reference is: Gourinath et al. Structure 11:1621-1627 (2003). The jargon we used for Bave of the protein is <Bstand>. In our case, to be conservative in our interpretation of B-factor comparisons, we excluded random turns from the <Bstand> calculation and only included alpha helices and beta sheets, because we were trying to get a handle on the degree of excess flexibility of the less ordered regions of a large structure.
-Daniel On Thu, Apr 5, 2018 at 9:49 AM, Oliviero Carugo < oliviero.car...@univie.ac.at> wrote: > Dears, > > everybody knows that B-factors may change amongst different crystal > structures and that they need to be standardized when different protein > crystal structures are compared. > > If I am not wrong, I remember that someone proposed to standardize > B-factors of protein atoms as “BS = B - Bave”, where Bave is the average > B-factor of the protein. Such standardization is based on the hypothesis > that independent sources of disorder add in determining the final B-factor. > BS should represent atomic B-factors depurated by all factors different > from atom oscillation, since Bave differences are neutralized. > > Does anyone can help me in finding a publication (80s or 90s) where these > BS values are used? > > Thanks! > > Oliviero >
