Are long-range structural correlations behind the aggregration phenomena of polyglutamine diseases?

ABSTRACT: We have characterized the conformational ensembles of polyglutamine Qn peptides of various lengths n (ranging from 6 to 40), both with and without the presence of a C-terminal polyproline hexapeptide. For this, we used state-of-the-art molecular dynamics simulations combined with a novel statistical analysis to characterize the various properties of the backbone dihedral angles and secondary structural motifs of the glutamine residues. For Q40 (i.e., just above the pathological length ≃36 for Huntington's disease), the equilibrium conformations of the monomer consist primarily of disordered, compact structures with non-negligible α-helical and turn content. We also observed a relatively small population of extended structures suitable for forming aggregates including β- and α-strands, and

SUBMITTER: Moradi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3343152 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature