Structural rearrangement of amyloid-? upon inhibitor binding suppresses formation of Alzheimer's disease related oligomers.

ABSTRACT: The formation of oligomers of the amyloid-? peptide plays a key role in the onset of Alzheimer's disease. We describe herein the investigation of disease-relevant small amyloid-? oligomers by mass spectrometry and ion mobility spectrometry, revealing functionally relevant structural attributes. In particular, we can show that amyloid-? oligomers develop in two distinct arrangements leading to either neurotoxic oligomers and fibrils or non-toxic amorphous aggregates. Comprehending the key-attributes responsible for those pathways on a molecular level is a pre-requisite to specifically target the peptide's tertiary structure with the aim to promote the emergence of non-toxic aggregates. Here, we show for two fibril inhibiting ligands, an ionic molecular tweezer and a hydrophobic peptide that despite their different interaction mechanisms, the suppression of the fibril pathway can be deduced from the disappearance of the corresponding structure of the first amyloid-? oligomers.

SUBMITTER: Lieblein T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7682991 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature