Direct Observation of Seeded Conformational Conversion of hIAPP In Silico Reveals the Mechanisms for Morphological Dependence and Asymmetry of Fibril Growth

J Chem Inf Model. 2023 Sep 25;63(18):5863-5873. doi: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c00898. Epub 2023 Aug 31.

Abstract

Rapid growth of amyloid fibrils via a seeded conformational conversion of monomers is a critical step of fibrillization and important for disease transmission and progression. Amyloid fibrils often display diverse morphologies with distinct populations, and yet the molecular mechanisms of fibril elongation and their corresponding morphological dependence remain poorly understood. Here, we computationally investigated the single-molecular growth of two experimentally resolved human islet amyloid polypeptide fibrils of different morphologies. In both cases, the incorporation of monomers into preformed fibrils was observed. The conformational conversion dynamics was characterized by a small number of fibril growth intermediates. Fibril morphology affected monomer binding at fibril elongation and lateral surfaces as well as the seeded conformational conversion dynamics at the fibril ends, resulting in different fibril elongation rates and populations. We also observed an asymmetric fibril growth as in our prior experiments, attributing to differences of two fibril ends in terms of their local surface curvatures and exposed hydrogen-bond donors and acceptors. Together, our mechanistic findings afforded a theoretical basis for delineating different amyloid strains-entailed divergent disease progression.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amyloid*
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen Bonding
  • Molecular Conformation

Substances

  • Amyloid