An efficient visualization tool for the analysis of protein mutation matrices

Background  

It is useful to develop a tool that would effectively describe protein mutation matrices specifically geared towards the identification of mutations that produce either wanted or unwanted effects, such as an increase or decrease in affinity, or a predisposition towards misfolding. Here, we describe a tool where such mutations are efficiently identified, categorized and visualized. To categorize the mutations, amino acids in a mutation matrix are arrang according to one of three sets of physicochemical characteristics, namely hydrophilicity, size and polarizability, and charge and polarity. The magnitude and frequences of mutations for an alignment are subsequently described using color information and scaling factors.