Utility of B-Factors in Protein Science: Interpreting Rigidity, Flexibility, and Internal Motion and Engineering Thermostability
Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology · Shanghai Jiao Tong University · +2 more institutions
Abstract
The term B-factor, sometimes called the Debye-Waller factor, temperature factor, or atomic displacement parameter, is used in protein crystallography to describe the attenuation of X-ray or neutron scattering caused by thermal motion. This review begins with analyses of early protein studies which suggested that B-factors, available from the Protein Data Bank, can be used to identify the flexibility of atoms, side chains, or even whole regions. This requires a technique for obtaining normalized B-factors. Since then the exploitation of B-factors has been extensively elaborated and applied in a variety of studies with quite different goals, all having in common the identification and interpretation of rigidity,…
Citation impact
- FWCI
- 19.40
- Percentile
- 100%
- References
- 411
Authors
5- ZSZhoutong SunCorresponding
Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology
- QLQian Liu
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- GQGe Qu
Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology
- YFYan FengCorresponding
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- MTManfred T. ReetzCorresponding
Philipps University of Marburg, Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology
Topics & keywords
- Thermostability
- Chemistry
- Rigidity (electromagnetism)
- Flexibility (engineering)
- Biochemical engineering
- Biochemistry
- Structural engineering
- Statistics