A molecular modeling study on full-length insulin: insight into initial events of amyloid formation

Studies on the structure and physico-chemical properties of amyloid fibrils are important with regard to a better understanding of amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Insulin is used as a protein model which is easily driven toward amyloid formation. In the present study, five sets of 15 ns molecular dynamics simulations were performed on insulin in order to observe the initial structural changes that occur in the process of amyloid formation. Potential energy, RMSD, and secondary structure percentage of sampled structures were analyzed in all experiments. Common residues that undergo the first conformational changes were detected to be S9 and V10 of the A chain, as well as G8 and S9 of the B chain. The RMSD of truncated insulin increased much more than full-length insulin to about 18 Å. However, the beta-sheet structures percentage of full-length insulin, which is an indicative of amyloid formation, was higher than the truncated form in the presence of salt. This is indicative of the importance of the five residues of the B chain C-terminal in the insulin misfolding process. Overall, simulating full-length insulin under high temperature and in the presence of KCl could be used to assess amyloid formation and potential amyloid inhibitors of this protein.     

Effects of Sucrose and Trehalose on Stability,Kinetic Properties,and Thermal Aggregation of Firefly Luciferase

In this study, we used sugars as stabilizing additives to improve the thermostability and to inhibit aggregation of firefly luciferase. The combination of sucrose and trehalose has a strong stabilizing effect on firefly luciferase activity and prevents its thermoinactivation. These additives can also increase optimum temperature. It has been shown that the presence of both sucrose and trehalose can inhibit thermal aggregation of firefly luciferase and decrease bioluminescence decay rate. In order to understand the molecular mechanism of thermostabilization, we investigated the effects of sucrose and trehalose combination on the secondary structure of luciferase by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Minor changes in content of secondary structure of firefly luciferase are observed upon treatment with additives.     

Amino Acids as Additives against Amorphous Aggregation: In Vitro and In Silico Study on Human Lysozyme

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - The effect of 16 amino acids (AA) with various physicochemical properties was investigated on human lysozyme (HL) heat-induced amorphous aggregation....     

Protein-Protein interactions leading to aggregation: Perspectives on mechanism, significance and control

Protein aggregates, whether amorphous or structured (amyloid), have attracted much attention in recent years and despite extensive efforts, the mechanism of their formation is poorly understood. While “natural” aggregation (polymerization) of monomers could improve the biological function of some proteins, it is usually the darker side of this phenomenon which is discussed in many studies: deleterious aggregation that could lead to loss of biological activity under in vitro conditions or cause misfolding diseases. In this review, protein aggregation has been overviewed, starting from some general concepts involved in its formation, followed by mentioning studies aimed at elucidation of its kinetics and mechanism, or characterization of intermediates that would be aggregation-prone, and finally, reporting some of the studies related to the design of methods that would control the process. Similarly, amyloid aggregates have been defined, and current methods used in their characterization have been briefly described, with an emphasis on in silico studies. Finally, identification and design of such molecules which may be effective in control of this process is discussed.