The common architecture of cross-beta amyloid.

Amyloid fibril deposition is central to the pathology of more than 30 unrelated diseases including Alzheimer's disease and Type 2 diabetes. It is generally accepted that amyloid fibrils share common structural features despite each disease being characterised by the deposition of an unrelated protein or peptide. The structure of amyloid fibrils has been studied using X-ray fibre diffraction and crystallography, solid-state NMR and electron paramagnetic resonance, and many different, sometimes opposing, models have been suggested. Many of these models are based on the original interpretation of the cross-beta diffraction pattern for cross-beta silk in which beta-strands run perpendicular to the fibre axis, although alternative models include beta-helices and natively structured proteins. Here, we have analysed opposing model structures and examined the necessary structural elements within the amyloid core structure, as well as producing idealised models to test the limits of the core conformation. Our work supports the view that amyloid fibrils share a number of common structural features, resulting in characteristic diffraction patterns. This pattern may be satisfied by structures in which the strands align close to perpendicular to the fibre axis and are regularly arranged to form beta-sheet ribbons. Furthermore, the fibril structure contains several beta-sheets that associate via side-chain packing to form the final protofilament structure.

A simple algorithm locates beta-strands in the amyloid fibril core of alpha-synuclein, Abeta, and tau using the amino acid sequence alone.

Fibrillar inclusions are a characteristic feature of the neuropathology found in the alpha-synucleinopathies such as Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and multiple system atrophy. Familial forms of alpha-synucleinopathies have also been linked with missense mutations or gene multiplications that result in higher protein expression levels. In order to form these fibrils, the protein, alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn), must undergo a process of self-assembly in which its native state is converted from a disordered conformer into a beta-sheet-dominated form. Here, we have developed a novel polypeptide property calculator to locate and quantify relative propensities for beta-strand structure in the sequence of alpha-syn. The output of the algorithm, in the form of a simple x-y plot, was found to correlate very well with the location of the beta-sheet core in alpha-syn fibrils. In particular, the plot features three peaks, the largest of which is completely absent for the nonfibrillogenic protein, beta-syn. We also report similar significant correlations for the Alzheimer's disease-related proteins, Abeta and tau. A substantial region of alpha-syn is capable [corrected] of converting from its disordered conformation into a long [corrected] alpha-helical protein. We have developed the aforementioned algorithm to locate and quantify the alpha-helical hydrophobic moment in the amino acid sequence of alpha-syn. As before, the output of the algorithm, in the form of a simple x-y plot, was found to correlate very well with the location of alpha-helical structure in membrane bilayer-associated alpha-syn.

Diffraction to study protein and peptide assemblies.

Proteins and peptides are able to self-assemble in vivo and in vitro. In vitro, this ability can be exploited to make bionanomaterials with many potential uses. Peptides are capable of forming a wide range of structures including fibres, tubules and scaffolds. In vivo, proteins assemble to form cellular fibrous proteins, as well as being involved in protein misfolding in disease. Recent advances using X-ray diffraction have highlighted the internal structure of self-assembled proteins and peptides, showing packing of side chain residues and have enabled a deeper understanding of mechanisms of assembly.

Structures for amyloid fibrils.

Alzheimer's disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are the best-known examples of a group of diseases known as the amyloidoses. They are characterized by the extracellular deposition of toxic, insoluble amyloid fibrils. Knowledge of the structure of these fibrils is essential for understanding the process of pathology of the amyloidoses and for the rational design of drugs to inhibit or reverse amyloid formation. Structural models have been built using information from a wide variety of techniques, including X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, solid state NMR and EPR. Recent advances have been made in understanding the architecture of the amyloid fibril. Here, we describe and compare postulated structural models for the mature amyloid fibril and discuss how the ordered structure of amyloid contributes to its stability.

X-ray diffraction studies of amyloid structure.

Elucidation of the underlying core structure of amyloid fibrils is essential for understanding the mechanism by which amyloid fibrils are formed and deposited. Conventional methods of X-ray crystallography and NMR cannot be used, since the fibers are insoluble and heterogeneous. X-ray fiber diffraction is one method that has been successfully used to examine the structure of these insoluble fibers. The procedure involves the formation of suitable, ordered amyloid fibrils and characterization (by electron microscopy), partial alignment of fibers, X-ray data collection, data analysis, and finally, model building.

Molecular basis for amyloid fibril formation and stability.

The molecular structure of the amyloid fibril has remained elusive because of the difficulty of growing well diffracting crystals. By using a sequence-designed polypeptide, we have produced crystals of an amyloid fiber. These crystals diffract to high resolution (1 A) by electron and x-ray diffraction, enabling us to determine a detailed structure for amyloid. The structure reveals that the polypeptides form fibrous crystals composed of antiparallel beta-sheets in a cross-beta arrangement, characteristic of all amyloid fibers, and allows us to determine the side-chain packing within an amyloid fiber. The antiparallel beta-sheets are zipped together by means of pi-bonding between adjacent phenylalanine rings and salt-bridges between charge pairs (glutamic acid-lysine), thus controlling and stabilizing the structure. These interactions are likely to be important in the formation and stability of other amyloid fibrils.