molecular surfaces



 Dear Netters!
 =============
 I would like to invitate all those of you, that are working on
 the fields of protein-protein-docking, molecular surfaces,
 energy evaluation, electrostatic interactions in proteins etc.
 to a little comparison of some results. Especially I would like
 to compare the shape (geometry) of   m o l e c u l a r
 a c c e s s i b l e   s u r f a c e s   (MS) with each other. In
 addition, values of the electrostatic potential on the MS should
 be compared.
 It is   n o t   intended to decide about the correctness of
 underlying theoretical models, but rather to give all participants
 a hint, how their results compare empirically with those of others.
 My background:
 ==============
 I am working on the problem of protein-protein-docking. The main
 idea of our project is to integrate geometrical and chemical
 surface features in the evalutation of complementarity in an
 easy and fast manner. To this end I am developing a class library
 (C++) to calculate and manipulate protein features and features
 of the molecular surfaces. One of this features is the electrostatic
 potential on the surface. Now, the question arises: Am I computing
 the right values?
 The comparison:
 ===============
 Assume you can calculate the MS of a protein and possibly the
 electrostatic potential on it, i.e. you should be able to write down
 a file similar to this:
 x1 y1 z1 e1
 x2 y2 z2 e2
 x3 y3 z3 e3
 x4 y4 z4 e4
 ...
 xN yN zN eN
 Hereby, xi, yi, zi, and ei are floats. xi, yi, and zi are the
 coordinates (in Aengstroem, given in the coordinate system of the
 PDB - entry) of a surface point and ei is the
 electrostatic potential that you computed at this particular
 surface point. Since we compare only relative values, it is not
 important in which unit ei is given.
 Your MS will be sampled in a 3D grid (isotropic lattice constants
 0.5, 0.8, and 1.2 Aengstroem will be used) and by counting hits and
 missing voxels we will compare the shape (geometry) of the
 different MSs. In a similar way we will compare by correlation on
 the grid the values for the electrostatic potential on the MS.
 You want to make one of the party?
 ==================================
 Then please send me a note (friedric |-at-| techfak.uni-bielefeld.de)
 (Name, institution, type of program you use, additional hints for
 the comparison, references).
 First all participants will be informed about the IDs of the others
 and will receive a detailed description of the procedures used for
 comparison.
 Then the PDB-IDs of some proteins I suggest to use for comparison
 and a description of possible file formats will be sent.
 Afterwords you will calculate the MS and eventually the potential
 on it and you will send it to me. The comparisons will be performed,
 and the results will be posted to all participants as a set of upper
 triangular matrices, containing cross correlations and similar values
 of every MS with each other.
 In addition the results will be compiled to a technical report, that
 will be made electronically available on our ftp server.
 Schedule:
 =========
 5.5.1995	Deadline for note on intended participation.
 10.5.1995	Posting of PDB-Ids and format descriptions.
 		(Meanwhile eventually changes in procedure of
 		comparisons, depending on hints of participants.)
 24.5.1995	Deadline for submission of MS
 31.5.1995	Posting of results
 I would be glad to here from you!
 Friedrich Ackermann
 THIS NOTE WAS POSTED BY ME ORIGINALLY TO THE FOLLOWING NEWSGROUPS:
 bionet.biology.computational
 bionet.molbio.proteins
 bionet.software
 bionet.announce
 PLEASE FORWARD IT TO POSSIBLY INTERESTED PERSONS, THAT DON'T READ
 THESE NEWSGROUPS!
 PLEASE INFORM ME ABOUT OTHER NEWSGROUPS, INTO WHICH I SHOULD POST
 THIS NOTE!
 IN ADDITION IT WAS POSTED TO
 chemistry |-at-| ccl.net (hint from Max Vasquez)
 -------------------------------------------
 Friedrich Ackermann
 Applied Computer Science
 Bielefeld University
 P.O. 100131
 D-33501 Bielefeld
 Phone: +49 521 106 2938
 Fax: +49 521 106 2992
 email: friedric |-at-| techfak.uni-bielefeld.de
 -------------------------------------------