PLO3S: Protein LOcal Surficial Similarity Screening

The study of protein molecular surfaces enables to better understand and predict protein interactions. Different methods have been developed in computer vision to compare surfaces that can be applied to protein molecular surfaces. The present work proposes a method using the Wave Kernel Signature: Protein LOcal Surficial Similarity Screening (PLO3S). The descriptor of the PLO3S method is a local surface shape descriptor projected on a unit sphere mapped onto a 2D plane and called Surface Wave Interpolated Maps (SWIM). PLO3S allows to rapidly compare protein surface shapes through local comparisons to filter large protein surfaces datasets in protein structures virtual screening protocols.