There are several advantages to alanine scanning mutagenesis for epitope mapping:
- Critical residue identification: Provides detailed information at the single amino acid level about the importance of specific residues in the binding interaction.
- Addresses energetics of binding interactions: By substituting individual amino acid residues with alanine, the changes in binding affinity can be measured between different mutants. This method enables researchers to identify and quantify the contributions of specific residues to the stability and strength of the protein-protein interaction.