Low-frequency collective motion in biomacromolecules and its biological functions

Abstract

The occurrence of low-frequency motion in biomacromolecules, which had long been speculated upon with a great deal of skepticism, is now a clearly established phenomenon and has been convincingly demonstrated. The next stage in the process of its elucidation appropriately concerns the determination of its origin, the development of a feasible and effective model for the calculations involved and, more importantly, the extending of investigations on its biological roles in order to gain insights into the various interesting mechanisms underlying the dynamic processes occurring in biomacromolecules. Confronted with such a task, this review has been written with the aim of stimulating further, through a systematic and comprehensive description, developments to open up this exciting frontier of molecular biology, especially from the viewpoint of biological functions.