Stop-and-go kinetics in amyloid fibrillation

Many human diseases are associated with protein aggregation and fibrillation. Using glucagon as a model system for protein fibrillation we show that fibrils grow in an intermittent fashion, with periods of growth followed by long pauses. Remarkably, even if the intrinsic transition rates vary considerably in each experiment, the probability of being in the growing (stopping) state is very close to 1/4 (3/4), suggesting the presence of 4 independent conformations of the fibril tip. We discuss this possibility in terms of existing structural knowledge

Branching in amyloid fibril growth

AbstractUsing the peptide hormone glucagon and Aβ(1–40) as model systems, we have sought to elucidate the mechanisms by which fibrils grow and multiply. We here present real-time observations of growing fibrils at a single-fibril level. Growing from preformed seeds, glucagon fibrils were able to generate new fibril ends by continuously branching into new fibrils. To our knowledge, this is the first time amyloid fibril branching has been observed in real-time. Glucagon fibrils formed by branching always grew in the forward direction of the parent fibril with a preferred angle of 35–40°. Furthermore, branching never occurred at the tip of the parent fibril. In contrast, in a previous study by some of us, Aβ(1–40) fibrils grew exclusively by elongation of preformed seeds. Fibrillation kinetics in bulk solution were characterized by light scattering. A growth process with branching, or other processes that generate new ends from existing fibrils, should theoretically give rise to different fibrillation kinetics than growth without such a process. We show that the effect of adding seeds should be particularly different in the two cases. Our light-scattering data on glucagon and Aβ(1–40) confirm this theoretical prediction, demonstrating the central role of fibril-dependent nucleation in amyloid fibril growt

Desarrollo sustentable en América Latina : oportunidades para la próxima década

Amyloid fibrils formed by the 29-residue peptide hormone glucagon at different concentrations have strikingly different morphologies when observed by transmission electron microscopy. Fibrils formed at low concentration (0.25 mg/mL) consist of two or more protofilaments with a regular twist, while fibrils at high concentration (8 mg/mL) consist of two straight protofilaments. Here, we explore the structural differences underlying glucagon polymorphism using proteolytic degradation, linear and circular dichroism, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray fiber diffraction. Morphological differences are perpetuated at all structural levels, indicating that the two fibril classes differ in terms of protofilament backbone regions, secondary structure, chromophore alignment along the fibril axis, and fibril superstructure. Straight fibrils show a conventional beta-sheet-rich far-UV circular dichroism spectrum whereas that of twisted fibrils is dominated by contributions from beta-turns. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirms this and also indicates a more dense backbone with weaker hydrogen bonding for the twisted morphology. According to linear dichroism, the secondary structural elements and the aromatic side chains in the straight fibrils are more highly ordered with respect to the alignment axis than the twisted fibrils. A series of highly periodical reflections in the diffractogram of the straight fibrils can be fitted to the diffraction pattern expected from a cylinder. Thus, the highly integrated structural organization in the straight fibril leads to a compact and highly uniform fibril with a well-defined edge. Prolonged proteolytic digestion confirmed that the straight fibrils are very compact and stable, while parts of the twisted fibril backbone are much more readily degraded. Differences in the digest patterns of the two morphologies correlate with predictions from two algorithms, suggesting that the polymorphism is inherent in the glucagon sequence. Glucagon provides a striking illustration of how the same short sequence can be folded into two remarkably different fibrillar structures. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved