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Temperature-Dependent Dynamics of Aβ42 and α-Synuclein Monomers and Early Oligomerization of Aβ42: Shared Residues Mediate Intra- and Intermolecular β-Sheets

delete2026-06-23
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OA
AI
G
Gabriel F. Martins
C
Cristiano Rocha
N
Nuno Galamba *
DOI:10.1021/acschemneuro.6c00242delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
We used molecular dynamics simulations to investigate how temperature modulates hydrophobic interactions and β-sheet formation in the CHARMM36m model of intrinsically disordered proteins, focusing on a monomer of amyloid-beta (Aβ42) and α-synuclein, as well as a dimer and tetramer of Aβ42. For the isolated monomers, increasing temperature leads to an increase in intramolecular contacts, promoting hydrogen bonding and secondary-structure reorganization toward β-sheet and turn motifs. Analysis of the dimer and tetramer of Aβ42 reveals increased conformational heterogeneity at high temperatures, suggesting a smaller-than-expected configurational entropy penalty upon association. Thus, whereas monomers undergo temperature-induced compaction, enhancing intramolecular interactions, including the formation of β-sheets, in the dimer and tetramer, hydrophobic stabilization is redirected toward aggregation, promoting cross-β-sheet formation, peptide elongation, and the emergence of spherical conformations. Notably, the residues that stabilize intramolecular β-sheets in the monomer (approximately sequences 16–22 and 29–36) largely overlap with those that form cross-β-sheet motifs in the aggregates, suggesting that intramolecular β-sheet formation is intrinsically linked to aggregation propensity. These results, in close agreement with earlier NMR measurements of the monomer and protofibrils, reveal a competition between intra- and intermolecular hydrophobic interactions, with intermolecular interactions ultimately becoming more favorable than the intramolecular interactions that stabilize monomer solvation.
Keywords:
Aggregation
Monomers
Oligomers
Peptides and proteins
Thermodynamic properties
hydrophobic effect
oligomerization
neurodegenerative diseases
molecular dynamics

Journal

ACS Chemical Neuroscience cover
ACS Chemical Neuroscience
IF:
3.9
Papers:
4.5K
Citations:
1.3W

Organization

U
university of lisbon
Scholars:
448
Papers: 213
Citations: 0
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