MD-jeep: An implementation of a Branch and Prune algorithm for distance geometry problems

Abstract

We present MD-jeep, an implementation of a Branch & Prune (BP) algorithm, which we employ for the solution of distance geometry problems related to molecular conformations. We consider the problem of finding the conformation of a molecule from the distances between some pairs of its atoms, which can be estimated by experimental techniques. We reformulate this problem as a combinatorial optimization problem, and describe a branch and prune solution strategy. We discuss its software implementation, and its complexity in terms of floating-point operations and memory requirements. MD-jeep has been developed in the C programming language. The sources of the presented software are available on the Internet under the GNU General Public License (v.2). © 2010 Springer-Verlag.