OPTIMIZATION OF SITE-DIRECTED MUTAGENESIS - 1 - NEW RANDOM-CENTROID OPTIMIZATION PROGRAM FOR WINDOWS USEFUL IN RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT

A program of random-centroid optimization was written for Windows 95. The advantages of this new program, over the previous program written in Quick Basic, are easier utilization using a comprehensive step-by-s tep menu and more efficient and objective mapping. The new program mar kedly improved the optimization efficiency, as applied to five multimo dal functions. Global optimums were found for all functions after 30-4 0 experiments. Even for the most difficult model, optimization was ach ieved in similar to 50 experiments. A graphical approach enabled by pr ogramming in the Windows environment can be a powerful tool for solvin g nonlinear, multimodal optimization problems, which may be encountere d in research and development in chemistry and biology.