Exploiting amyloid fibril lamination for nanotube self-assembly

J Am Chem Soc. 2003 May 28;125(21):6391-3. doi: 10.1021/ja0341642.

Abstract

Fundamental questions about the relative arrangement of the beta-sheet arrays within amyloid fibrils remain central to both its structure and the mechanism of self-assembly. Recent computational analyses suggested that sheet-to-sheet lamination was limited by the length of the strand. On the basis of this hypothesis, a short seven-residue segment of the Alzheimer's disease-related Abeta peptide, Abeta(16-22), was allowed to self-assemble under conditions that maintained the basic amphiphilic character of Abeta. Indeed, the number increased over 20-fold to 130 laminates, giving homogeneous bilayer structures that supercoil into long robust nanotubes. Small-angle neutron scattering and X-ray scattering defined the outer and inner radii of the nanotubes in solution to contain a 44-nm inner cavity with 4-nm-thick walls. Atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images further confirmed these homogeneous arrays of solvent-filled nanotubes arising from a flat rectangular bilayer, 130 nm wide x 4 nm thick, with each bilayer leaflet composed of laminated beta-sheets. The corresponding backbone H-bonds are along the long axis, and beta-sheet lamination defines the 130-nm bilayer width. This bilayer coils to give the final nanotube. Such robust and persistent self-assembling nanotubes with positively charged surfaces of very different inner and outer curvature now offer a unique, robust, and easily accessible scaffold for nanotechnology.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amyloid / chemistry*
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides / chemistry
  • Circular Dichroism
  • Microscopy, Atomic Force
  • Nanotechnology / methods*
  • Neutrons
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry
  • Scattering, Radiation
  • X-Rays

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • Amyloid beta-Peptides
  • Peptide Fragments
  • amyloid beta-protein (16-22)