title: Identification of hot spot residues at protein-protein interface.
abstract: It is known that binding free energy of protein-protein interaction is mainly contributed by hot spot (high energy) interface residues. Here, we investigate the characteristics of hot spots by examining inter-atomic sidechain-sidechain interactions using a dataset of 296 alanine-mutated interface residues. Results show that hot spots participate in strong and energetically favorable sidechain-sidechain interactions. Subsequently, we describe a novel, yet simple 'hot spot' prediction model with an accuracy that is similar to many available approaches. The model is also shown to efficiently distinguish specific protein-protein interactions from non-specific interactions.
authors.affiliation: School of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore - 639798.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Zhanhua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gan
authors.forename: Meena Kishore
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Sakharkar
authors.forename: Pandjassarame
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kangueane