20D-dynamic representation of protein sequences

•Formulation of a new alignment-free method of comparison of protein sequences•Introduction of 20D moments of inertia as new descriptors of protein sequences•Application of a normalized similarity measure in similarity/dissimilarity analysis of the sequences

A new method of comparison of protein sequences has been formulated. The sequence of amino acids is represented by a set of point masses in a 20D space. The distribution of points in the space is obtained by applying the method of a walk in the 20D space. Projections of the 20D representation into 2D or 3D spaces illustrate the distribution of particular amino acids along the sequence. 20D moments of inertia are proposed as new descriptors of protein sequences.