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Updated: May 14, 2026

Study of Protein Dynamics via Neutron Spin Echo Spectroscopy
Published on: April 13, 2022
Elastic and conformational softness of a globular protein
Liang Hong1, Dennis C Glass, Jonathan D Nickels
1UT/ORNL Center for Molecular Biophysics, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6309, USA.
Abstract:
Flexibility, or softness, is crucial for protein function and consists of a conformational component, involving jumps between potential wells, and an elastic component, involving fluctuations within the wells. Combining molecular dynamics simulation with incoherent neutron scattering and light scattering measurements on green fluorescent protein, we reveal a relationship between the intrawell fluctuations and elastic moduli of the protein. This finding leads to a simple means of experimentally separating the conformational from the elastic atomic displacements.
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