Mean-squared atomic displacements in hydrated lysozyme, native and denatured.

We use elastic neutron scattering to demonstrate that a sharp increase in the mean-squared atomic displacements, commonly observed in hydrated proteins above 200 K and often referred to as the dynamical transition, is present in the hydrated state of both native and denatured lysozyme. A direct comparison of the native and denatured protein thus confirms that the presence of the transition in the mean-squared atomic displacements is not specific to biologically functional molecules.