In order to facilitate applications of averaging techniques in the MIR/MAD
procedure, a program, FINDNCS, which automatically identifies non-crystallo
graphic symmetry (NCS) from heavy-atom sites, has been developed. The progr
am outputs the NCS operations (a rotation matrix and a translation vector),
the corresponding root-mean-square (r.m.s) deviations of heavy-atom sites,
polar angles and screw translations, and writes coordinates of matching si
tes in Protein Data Bank (PDB) format. The program has an interface with th
e graphics program O [Jones ct al. (1991). Acta Cryst. A47, 110-119] so tha
t the NCS operations can be displayed automatically. In the test examples,
all the correct NCS operations were identified and were above the noise sol
utions.