Kyte-Doolitle Hydropathy Plots:

assessing potential integral membrane proteins

When molecular biologists begin to investigate a new protein one of the primary questions asked is what does this protein do? This question partially can be answered by determining where in the cell it is located. There are many ways to assess protein location experimentally; however, in 1980 the researchers Kyte and Doolittle produced an algorithm that assessed a protein's location using hydropathy based on amino acid sequence. This method, the Kyte-Doolittle hydropathy plot, has since become a standard tool in molecular biology.

Using these hydropathy calulations, we can measure how hydrophobic or hydrophillic a protein is expected to be in certain regions. If particularly hydrophobic regions exist, an integral membrane protein is hypothetically indicated. Thus, a simple computer program can yield potentially important location information allowing predictions of function.