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Updated: Jun 13, 2026

Computational Prediction of Amino Acid Preferences of Potentially Multispecific Peptide-Binding Domains Involved in Protein-Protein Interactions
Published on: January 26, 2024
HotPoint: hot spot prediction server for protein interfaces
Nurcan Tuncbag1, Ozlem Keskin, Attila Gursoy
1Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, and College of Engineering, Koc University, Rumelifeneri Yolu, 34450 Sariyer Istanbul, Turkey.
Abstract:
The energy distribution along the protein-protein interface is not homogenous; certain residues contribute more to the binding free energy, called 'hot spots'. Here, we present a web server, HotPoint, which predicts hot spots in protein interfaces using an empirical model. The empirical model incorporates a few simple rules consisting of occlusion from solvent and total knowledge-based pair potentials of residues. The prediction model is computationally efficient and achieves high accuracy of 70%. The input to the HotPoint server is a protein complex and two chain identifiers that form an interface. The server provides the hot spot prediction results, a table of residue properties and an interactive 3D visualization of the complex with hot spots highlighted. Results are also downloadable as text files. This web server can be used for analysis of any protein-protein interface which can be utilized by researchers working on binding sites characterization and rational design of small molecules for protein interactions. HotPoint is accessible at http://prism.ccbb.ku.edu.tr/hotpoint.
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