Torsion angle approach to nucleic acid distance geometry: TANDY.

An efficient algorithm for generating DNA structures from a given set of distance constraints has been developed. The present implementation is suited for single-stranded DNA. The performance of the program has been tested with constraint sets representative of most stringent theoretical cases and also with usually available experimental ones. The results indicate that use of NOE-derived constraints alone generates an extremely large family of conformers and suggest that the quality of structure determination may be enhanced by incorporating additional constraints obtained by other means. The speed of the program makes it ideal for interactive use in conjunction with other complementary algorithms such as those for spectral simulation, energy minimization and molecular dynamics calculations.