Structural similarity in Bowman-Birk type protease inhibitors based on hydrophobicity.

The degree of similarity in the three-dimensional structures of thirteen legume Bowman-Birk type protease inhibitors has been examined on the basis of the patterns of hydrophobicity found in their amino acid sequences, following the procedure described by Sweet & Eisenberg (1983). In the group of such double-headed protease inhibitors two sub-groups are distinguished presenting high structural similarity among their respective members and low similarity between them. Phylogenetic trees have been constructed from hydrophobicity difference and minimum mutational distance matrices, respectively.