Dear Asmita, (and all who may be interested)
In Gourinath & Himmel et al. Structure 11:1621-1627 (2003), I normalized B-factors
of several crystal structures for comparisons, using a simple applications of statistics.
Any such analysis must be viewed with caution, of course, because it relies on the
assumption that the crystal structures in question were well-refined with little model
bias. Otherwise, it may be useful set all B-factors in a structure to one value (well
below the average B, since B-factors tend to refine up much more easily than refining
down) and run through a round of refinement in which B-factors are the last parameter
refined. Then, normalize and do the comparison.
In my case, I looking at how the difference between B-factors of one particular helix
(the "SH1 Helix") and the whole structure changed over several different conformations
of the protein, and I had to look at a variety of crystal structures to do the comparison
and demonstrate a possible trend.
I hope this helps.
-Daniel M. Himmel
|