GAUSSIAN DYNAMICS OF FOLDED PROTEINS

Vibrational dynamics of folded proteins is studied using a Gaussian mo del in which the protein is viewed as a network, residues representing the junctions, and the connectivity being established by a single par ameter harmonic potential. Application to seven proteins showed that t he local packing density plays a major role in determining the vibrati onal spectrum at time scales of picoseconds. At later times, the secon dary structure and tertiary context of each residue comes into play. T he vibrational frequencies obey a universal distribution, confirming p revious normal mode analyses.