Patent ID: 7313507

Claim:
A system for spatially profiling a hydrophobicity distribution for a transmembrane protein, said system comprising: a scaler which generates scaled hydrophobicity values for said transmembrane protein; a profiler which spatially profiles a hydrophobicity distribution for said transmembrane protein based on said scaled hydrophobicity value; and a display device for displaying output of said profiler, wherein said profiler generates a hydrophobicity distribution profile for said protein using a predetermined profiling geometry which is selected to approximate an external shape of said protein within a lipid bilayer, and wherein said profiler comprises: an identifier for identifying a residue external to said membrane and removing said residue to obtain a truncated structure comprising plural residue side-chains which are internal to said membrane; and a calculator which: calculates plural residue centroids for said plural residue side-chains; calculates a distribution of said plural residue centroids using a series of nested shapes which are consistent with said profiling geometry and provide contours about an axis that correlate with a lipid exposure for the residues proximate to a boundary between said protein and said lipid bilayer; and obtains a geometric center for said distribution of said plural residue centroids, said hydrophobicity profile being about said axis through said geometric center and normal to a plane of said membrane.