"The Amylome:
The universe of proteins that can form amyloid-like fibrils."
Presented by Prof. David Eisenberg, UCLA
The amylome is the universe of proteins that are capable of forming amyloid-like fibrils. The factors that enable a protein to belong to the amylome will be discussed. A major factor is the presence in the protein of a segment that can form a tightly complementary interface with an identical segment. This permits the formation of a steric zipper—two self-complementary beta sheets that form the spine of an amyloid fibril. Another factor is sufficient conformational freedom of the self-complementary segment to interact with other molecules. Examples will be given from experiments on RNase A, SOD1, insulin, Abeta, and tau. We find that in some proteins, self-chaperoning effects have evolved to constrain self-complementary segments from interaction with each other.
Hosted by Prof. Ann McDermott
Thursday, September 23, 2010
