title: A monomer-trimer model supports intermittent glucagon fibril growth.
abstract: We investigate in vitro fibrillation kinetics of the hormone peptide glucagon at various concentrations using confocal microscopy and determine the glucagon fibril persistence length 60μm. At all concentrations we observe that periods of individual fibril growth are interrupted by periods of stasis. The growth probability is large at high and low concentrations and is reduced for intermediate glucagon concentrations. To explain this behavior we propose a simple model, where fibrils come in two forms, one built entirely from glucagon monomers and one entirely from glucagon trimers. The opposite building blocks act as fibril growth blockers, and this generic model reproduces experimental behavior well.
authors.affiliation: Harvard University, Department of Physics, 17 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Andrej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Košmrlj
authors.affiliation: Copenhagen University, Niels Bohr Institute, CMOL, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cordsen
authors.affiliation: Copenhagen University, Niels Bohr Institute, CMOL, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kyrsting
authors.affiliation: 1] Copenhagen University, Niels Bohr Institute, CMOL, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark [2] Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University, Gustav Wieds Vej 14, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Daniel E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Otzen
authors.affiliation: Copenhagen University, Niels Bohr Institute, CMOL, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lene B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Oddershede
authors.affiliation: Copenhagen University, Niels Bohr Institute, CMOL, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mogens H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Jensen
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D005934:Glucagon / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D055503:Protein Multimerization
chemical_list: D005934:Glucagon