title: Relationship between structural composition and material properties of polymorphic hIAPP fibrils.
abstract: Amyloid proteins are misfolded, denatured proteins that are responsible for causing several degenerative and neuro-degenerative diseases. Determining the mechanical stability of these amyloids is crucial for understanding the disease mechanisms, which will guide us in treatment. Furthermore, many research groups recognized amyloid proteins as functional biological materials that can be used in nanosensors, bacterial biofilms, coatings, etc. Many in vitro studies have been carried out to determine the characteristics of amyloid proteins via force spectroscopy methods, atomic force microscopy, and optical tweezers. However, computational methods (e.g. molecular dynamics and elastic network model) not only reveal the mechanical properties of the amyloid proteins, but also provide more in-depth information about the amyloids by presenting a visualization of their conformational changes. In this study, we evaluated the various material properties and behaviors of four different polymorphic structures of human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) by using steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulations under tensile conditions. From our results, we examined how these mechanical properties may differ with respect to the structural formation of amyloid proteins.
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering Korea University, Seoul 136-701, Republic of Korea.
authors: Myeongsang
authors: M
authors: Lee
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering Korea University, Seoul 136-701, Republic of Korea.
authors: Hyun Joon
authors: HJ
authors: Chang
authors: Seoul Science High School, Seoul 110-530, Republic of Korea.
authors: Donghoi
authors: D
authors: Kim
authors: Seoul Science High School, Seoul 110-530, Republic of Korea.
authors: Yongwoo
authors: Y
authors: Lee
authors: Seoul Science High School, Seoul 110-530, Republic of Korea.
authors: Heesu
authors: H
authors: Suh
authors: Seoul Science High School, Seoul 110-530, Republic of Korea.
authors: Namjo
authors: N
authors: Ahn
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering Korea University, Seoul 136-701, Republic of Korea; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: gyoon1@bu.edu.
authors: Gwonchan
authors: G
authors: Yoon
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering Korea University, Seoul 136-701, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: nass@korea.ac.kr.
authors: Sungsoo
authors: S
authors: Na
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D058228:Islet Amyloid Polypeptide / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D055550:Protein Stability
chemical_list: D058228:Islet Amyloid Polypeptide
keywords: Polymorphic structures; Steered molecular dynamics; hIAPP fibrils