title: ECMIS: computational approach for the identification of hotspots at protein-protein interfaces.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Various methods have been developed to computationally predict hotspot residues at novel protein-protein interfaces. However, there are various challenges in obtaining accurate prediction. We have developed a novel method which uses different aspects of protein structure and sequence space at residue level to highlight interface residues crucial for the protein-protein complex formation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  ECMIS (Energetic Conservation Mass Index and Spatial Clustering) algorithm was able to outperform existing hotspot identification methods. It was able to achieve around 80% accuracy with incredible increase in sensitivity and outperforms other existing methods. This method is even sensitive towards the hotspot residues contributing only small-scale hydrophobic interactions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Combination of diverse features of the protein viz. energy contribution, extent of conservation, location and surrounding environment, along with optimized weightage for each feature, was the key for the success of the algorithm. The academic version of the algorithm is available at http://caps.ncbs.res.in/download/ECMIS/ECMIS.zip.
authors.forename: Prashant
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shingate
authors.forename: Malini
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manoharan
authors.forename: Anshul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sukhwal
authors.affiliation: National Centre for Biological Sciences (TIFR), GKVK Campus, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, India. mini@ncbs.res.in.
authors.forename: Ramanathan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sowdhamini
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D011487:Protein Conformation; D025941:Protein Interaction Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012984:Software; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins