PEP-Patch: Electrostatics in Protein–Protein Recognition, Specificity, and Antibody Developability
Valentin J. Hoerschinger, Franz Waibl, Nancy D. Pomarici, Johannes R. Loeffler, Charlotte M. Deane, Guy Georges, Hubert Kettenberger, Monica L. Fernández‐Quintero, Klaus R. Liedl
Abstract
The electrostatic properties of proteins arise from the number and distribution of polar and charged residues. Electrostatic interactions in proteins play a critical role in numerous processes such as molecular recognition, protein solubility, viscosity, and antibody developability. Thus, characterizing and quantifying electrostatic properties of a protein are prerequisites for understanding these processes. Here, we present PEP-Patch, a tool to visualize and quantify the electrostatic potential on the protein surface in terms of surface patches, denoting separated areas of the surface with a common physical property. We highlight its applicability to elucidate protease substrate specificity and antibody-antigen recognition and predict heparin column retention times of antibodies as an indicator of pharmacokinetics.