Helix-helix packing angle preferences for finite helix axes.

Recently, James Bowie addressed the question of how to normalize correctly the distribution of observed helix-helix packing angles in proteins (Bowie, Nature Struct. Biol. 4:915-917, 1997). A hitherto unrealized yet significant bias toward crossed packing angles was revealed. However, the derived random reference distribution of packing angles requires that helices have to be assumed as infinite in length. Here, we complement Bowie's analysis by consideration of the more realistic case where helices are of finite length. As a result, the statistical bias toward near perpendicular packings appears to be even stronger.