A new method of secondary structure assignment based on the Delaunay tessellation of protein structures

A five element descriptor derived from the Delaunay tessellation of a protein structure can be assigned to each residue in the protein. The descriptor characterizes main chain topology in the neighborhood of the residue. Rules which accurately map it to the DSSP secondary structure assignment can be devised, which is surprising because the descriptor does not explicitly depend on any angles, lengths, areas, or putative hydrogen bonds, nor does it contain information on internal residue geometry.