Amyloid fibrils, conformational polymorphism

Lessons from Studying Conformational Polymorphism in Amyloid Fibrils. 153... 

The notion that prion strains are encoded by different conformations of the same protein is supported by a wealth of data showing structural polymorphisms (or strains ) in amyloid fibrils formed by a number of unrelated proteins such as insulin [160], Alzheimer s A(3 peptide [161], and Sup35 [107, 108]. Importantly, the conformational traits defining individual polymorphic forms are often heritable upon seeding, with daughter fibrils adopting the conformation of parent seeds, even if the reaction is performed under conditions that would normally favor... 

A distinct type of polymorphism was observed in the AP(l-40)-Iowa mutant D23N [44, 118]. In the same fibril preparation both parallel and antiparallel P-structures coexisted, the latter representing the major conformation. This finding illustrates that a single disease-related mutation can have extensive consequences for amyloid structure. 

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