Abstract. We give an algorithm that locally improves the fit between two proteins modeled as space-filling diagrams. The algorithm defines the fit in purely geometric terms and improves by applying a rigid motion to one of the two proteins. Our implementation of the algorithm takes between three and ten seconds and converges with high likelihood to the correct docked configuration, provided it starts at a position away from the correct one by at most 18 degrees of rotation and at most §©¨ ˚ of translation. The speed and convergence radius make this an attractive algorithm to use in combination with a coarse sampling of the six-dimensional space of rigid motions.
Vicky Choi, Pankaj K. Agarwal, Herbert Edelsbrunne