# AI Unlocks Millisecond Protein Dynamics Dyna-1 model predicts protein movements at millisecond timescales. - **Source:** [Nature](https://brifing.si/source/4d850c3b-dd79-4024-bc91-db2571889199) - **Published:** 2026-08-10 - **Topic:** [Data & AI](https://brifing.si/c/data-ai) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/4c7e11c5-337b-460c-8506-117367d526d0 ## The Importance of Protein Dynamics Biological functions of proteins depend on conformational changes occurring at microsecond to millisecond timescales. Understanding these dynamics is critical for processes like enzyme catalysis and ligand binding. However, the lack of standardized, large-scale experimental data has hindered predictive understanding of these motions. ## Missing Pieces in NMR Spectra Researchers analyzing 100 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) relaxation datasets discovered that millisecond dynamics can broaden NMR signals beyond detection. This phenomenon left some residues unassigned in chemical shift datasets of ~10,000 proteins deposited in the Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank (BMRB). ## A Bold Hypothesis The team hypothesized that unassigned residues were exchange-broadened due to microsecond-millisecond motions. This bold assumption led to training deep learning models to predict missing assignments. Remarkably, these models also predicted exchange measured via NMR relaxation experiments, opening new avenues for understanding protein dynamics. ## The Dyna-1 Model The most successful model, named Dyna-1, leverages an intermediate layer of the multimodal language model ESM-3. Dyna-1 particularly excels at predicting dynamics directly linked to biological functions like enzyme catalysis and ligand binding. These findings parallel observations that residues experiencing microsecond-millisecond exchange are more evolutionarily conserved. ## Transformative Potential of Datasets Researchers anticipate that the presented datasets and models will be transformative in deciphering the common language of dynamics and function. This breakthrough could open new frontiers in understanding protein dynamics and enable better modeling of biological processes. ## Evolutionary Conservation and Dynamics The study revealed that residues experiencing microsecond-millisecond exchange are more evolutionarily conserved. This finding underscores the importance of such dynamics in protein evolution. The Dyna-1 model showed particular success in predicting these conserved regions. ## Potential Applications The development of the Dyna-1 model could have significant applications in fields like drug discovery and protein engineering. Better understanding of protein dynamics might enable more effective design of new drug candidates and optimization of existing pharmaceuticals. ## Future Perspectives This work demonstrates the potential of AI-based approaches in understanding protein dynamics. Models like Dyna-1 could pioneer new methods for unraveling biological complexity and foster interdisciplinary collaborations in structural biology and computational science. ## Sources covering this story - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10989-4 — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._