MPEx: A tool for exploring membrane proteins

Hydropathy plot methods form a cornerstone of membrane protein research, especially in the early stages of biochemical and structural characterization. Membrane Protein Explorer (MPEx), described in this article, is a refined and versatile hydropathy-plot software tool for analyzing membrane protein sequences. MPEx is highly interactive and facilitates the characterization and identification of favorable protein transmembrane regions using experiment-based physical and biological hydrophobicity scales. Besides allowing the consequences of sequence mutations to be examined, it provides tools for aiding the design of membrane-active peptides. MPEx is freely available as a Java Web Start application from our web site at http://blanco.biomol.uci.edu/mpex.