Gaussian Dynamics of Folded Proteins

Vibrational dynamics of folded proteins is studied using a Gaussian model in which the protein is viewed as a network, residues representing the junctions, and the connectivity being established by a single parameter harmonic potential. Application to seven proteins showed that the local packing density plays a major role in determining the vibrational spectrum at time scales of picoseconds. At later times, the secondary structure and tertiary context of each residue comes into play. The vibrational frequencies obey a universal distribution, confirming previous normal mode analyses.