Dataset Information

Residue-Specific Dynamics and Local Environmental Changes in A?40 Oligomer and Fibril Formation.

ABSTRACT: Elucidating local dynamics of protein aggregation is crucial for understanding the mechanistic details of protein amyloidogenesis. Herein, we studied the residue-specific dynamics and local environmental changes of A?40 along the course of aggregation by using para-cyanophenylalanine (PheCN ) as a fluorescent and vibrational probe. Our results show that the PheCN residues introduced at various positions all exhibited an immediate decay of fluorescence intensity, indicating a relatively synergistic process in early oligomer formation. The fast decreases in the fluorescence intensities of residues?19 and 20 in the central hydrophobic core region and residue?10 in the N-terminal region suggest that they play crucial roles in the formation of the oligomeric core. The PheCN 4 residue exhibits a remarkably slower decrease in fluorescence intensity, implicating its dynamic conformational characteristics in oligomer and fibril formation. Our results also suggest that the N-terminal residues in fibrils are surrounded by a relatively hydrophobic local environment, as opposed to being solvated.

SUBMITTER: Liu H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6028940 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Residue-Specific Dynamics and Local Environmental Changes in Aβ40 Oligomer and Fibril Formation.

Liu Haiyang H Morris Clifford C Lantz Richard R Kent Thomas W TW Elbassal Esmail A EA Wojcikiewicz Ewa P EP Du Deguo D

Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) 20180614 27

Elucidating local dynamics of protein aggregation is crucial for understanding the mechanistic details of protein amyloidogenesis. Herein, we studied the residue-specific dynamics and local environmental changes of Aβ40 along the course of aggregation by using para-cyanophenylalanine (Phe<sub>CN</sub> ) as a fluorescent and vibrational probe. Our results show that the Phe<sub>CN</sub> residues introduced at various positions all exhibited an immediate decay of fluorescence intensity, indicating ...[more]

PMID: 29750857

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Project description:The difficulty in identifying the toxic agents in all amyloid-related diseases is likely due to the complicated kinetics and thermodynamics of the nucleation process and subsequent fibril formation. The slow progression of these diseases suggests that the formation, incorporation, and/or action of toxic agents are possibly rate limiting. Candidate toxic agents include precursors (some at very low concentrations), also called oligomers and protofibrils, and the fibrils. Here, we investigate the kinetic and thermodynamic behavior of human insulin oligomers (imaged by cryo-EM) under fibril-forming conditions (pH 1.6 and 65 degrees C) by probing the reaction pathway to insulin fibril formation using two different types of experiments-cooling and seeding-and confirm the validity of the nucleation model and its effect on fibril growth. The results from both the cooling and seeding studies confirm the existence of a time-changing oligomer reaction process prior to fibril formation that likely involves a rate-limiting nucleation process followed by structural rearrangements of intermediates (into beta-sheet rich entities) to form oligomers that then form fibrils. The latter structural rearrangement step occurs even in the absence of nuclei (i.e., with added heterologous seeds). Nuclei are formed at the fibrillation conditions (pH 1.6 and 65 degrees C) but are also continuously formed during cooling at pH 1.6 and 25 degrees C. Within the time-scale of the experiments, only after increasing the temperature to 65 degrees C are the trapped insulin nuclei and resultant structures able to induce the structural rearrangement step and overcome the energy barrier to form fibrils. This delay in fibrillation and accumulation of nuclei at low temperature (25 degrees C) result in a decrease in the mean length of the fibers when placed at 65 degrees C. Fits of an empirical model to the data provide quantitative measures of the delay in the lag-time during the nucleation process and subsequent reduction in fibril growth rate resulting from the cooling. Also, the seeding experiments, within the time-scale of the measurements, demonstrate that fibers can initiate fast fibrillation with dissolved insulin (fresh or taken during the lag-period) but not with other fibers. Qualitatively this is explained with a conjectual free-energy space plot.

Dataset Information

Residue-Specific Dynamics and Local Environmental Changes in A?40 Oligomer and Fibril Formation.

Publications

Residue-Specific Dynamics and Local Environmental Changes in Aβ40 Oligomer and Fibril Formation.

Similar Datasets

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