A droplet reactor on a super-hydrophobic surface allows control and characterization of amyloid fibril growth

Commun Biol. 2020 Aug 20;3(1):457. doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01187-7.

Abstract

Methods to produce protein amyloid fibrils, in vitro, and in situ structure characterization, are of primary importance in biology, medicine, and pharmacology. We first demonstrated the droplet on a super-hydrophobic substrate as the reactor to produce protein amyloid fibrils with real-time monitoring of the growth process by using combined light-sheet microscopy and thermal imaging. The molecular structures were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and X-ray scattering. We demonstrated that the convective flow induced by the temperature gradient of the sample is the main driving force in the growth of well-ordered protein fibrils. Particular attention was devoted to PHF6 peptide and full-length Tau441 protein to form amyloid fibrils. By a combined experimental with the molecular dynamics simulations, the conformational polymorphism of these amyloid fibrils were characterized. The study provided a feasible procedure to optimize the amyloid fibrils formation and characterizations of other types of proteins in future studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amyloid / chemistry*
  • Amyloid / ultrastructure
  • Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions*
  • Microscopy, Atomic Force
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Protein Aggregates*
  • Protein Folding
  • Spectrum Analysis
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • X-Ray Diffraction

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • Protein Aggregates