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The Alzheimer β‐peptide shows temperature‐dependent transitions between left‐handed 3 1 ‐helix, β‐strand and random coil secondary structures
Author(s) -
Danielsson Jens,
Jarvet Jüri,
Damberg Peter,
Gräslund Astrid
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
the febs journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.981
H-Index - 204
eISSN - 1742-4658
pISSN - 1742-464X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1742-4658.2005.04812.x
Subject(s) - polyproline helix , random coil , dihedral angle , crystallography , chemistry , peptide , helix (gastropod) , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , population , stereochemistry , circular dichroism , molecule , ecology , biochemistry , hydrogen bond , demography , organic chemistry , sociology , snail , biology
The temperature‐induced structural transitions of the full length Alzheimer amyloid β‐peptide [Aβ(1–40) peptide] and fragments of it were studied using CD and 1 H NMR spectroscopy. The full length peptide undergoes an overall transition from a state with a prominent population of left‐handed 3 1 (polyproline II; PII)‐helix at 0 °C to a random coil state at 60 °C, with an average ΔH of 6.8 ± 1.4 kJ·mol −1 per residue, obtained by fitting a Zimm–Bragg model to the CD data. The transition is noncooperative for the shortest N‐terminal fragment Aβ(1–9) and weakly cooperative for Aβ(1–40) and the longer fragments. By analysing the temperature‐dependent 3 J HNHα couplings and hydrodynamic radii obtained by NMR for Aβ(1–9) and Aβ(12–28), we found that the structure transition includes more than two states. The N‐terminal hydrophilic Aβ(1–9) populates PII‐like conformations at 0 °C, then when the temperature increases, conformations with dihedral angles moving towards β‐strand at 20 °C, and approaches random coil at 60 °C. The residues in the central hydrophobic (18–28) segment show varying behaviour, but there is a significant contribution of β‐strand‐like conformations at all temperatures below 20 °C. The C‐terminal (29–40) segment was not studied by NMR, but from CD difference spectra we concluded that it is mainly in a random coil conformation at all studied temperatures. These results on structural preferences and transitions of the segments in the monomeric form of Aβ may be related to the processes leading to the aggregation and formation of fibrils in the Alzheimer plaques.