Protein-protein recognition: method for finding complementary surfaces of interacting proteins.

A new method is described for searching for complementary surfaces of protein molecules from known coordinates of their non-hydrogen atoms. Each atom is assigned an arbitrary feature which is specific of its interactions with other atoms. The plots representing surfaces are generated. For each pair of surfaces a number of coincidences is calculated which increases as the number of contacts is increased between these atom pairs whose contribution to the energy of interaction is considered to be essential. The results obtained for the well-known autoassociation of insulin show the applicability of the method for the prediction of possible reaction modes between macromolecules.