Bioscience - Protein pairs feel the heat

Computer simulations published in April in Physical Review Letters have shown that pairs of proteins bound to each other undergo a profound change in their relative motion as they heat up, a phenomenon that could provide clues to how proteins interact to govern living cells. The molecular dynamics simulations, the product of an international collaboration led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Jeremy Smith, are currently being pursued on the Cray XT4 Jaguar supercomputer. The simulations set the stage for neutron scattering experiments to test the theory by measuring protein motion. "Understanding the physical nature of these associations will help us to comprehend why they form and when," Smith said. The work is funded by Laboratory Directed Research and Development.