Negatively Charged Peptide Nanofibrils from Immunoglobulin Light Chain Sequester Viral Particles but Lack Cell-Binding and Viral Transduction-Enhancing Properties.

Positively charged naturally occurring or engineered peptide nanofibrils (PNF) are effective enhancers of lentiviral and retroviral transduction, an often rate-limiting step in gene transfer and gene therapy approaches. These polycationic PNF are thought to bridge the electrostatic repulsions between negatively charged membranes of virions and cells, thereby enhancing virion attachment to and infection of target cells. Here, we analyzed PNF, which are formed by the peptide AL1, that represents a fragment of an immunoglobulin light chain that causes systemic AL amyloidosis.

Seeded fibrils of the germline variant of human λ-III immunoglobulin light chain FOR005 have a similar core as patient fibrils with reduced stability.

Systemic antibody light chains (AL) amyloidosis is characterized by deposition of amyloid fibrils derived from a particular antibody light chain. Cardiac involvement is a major risk factor for mortality. Using MAS solid-state NMR, we studied the fibril structure of a recombinant light chain fragment corresponding to the fibril protein from patient FOR005, together with fibrils formed by protein sequence variants that are derived from the closest germline (GL) sequence.

Solid state NMR assignments of a human λ-III immunoglobulin light chain amyloid fibril.

The aggregation of antibody light chains is linked to systemic light chain (AL) amyloidosis, a disease where amyloid deposits frequently affect the heart and the kidney. We here investigate fibrils from the λ-III FOR005 light chain (LC), which is derived from an AL-patient with severe cardiac involvement. In FOR005, five residues are mutated with respect to its closest germline gene segment IGLV3-19 and IGLJ3.

Cryo-EM structure of a light chain-derived amyloid fibril from a patient with systemic AL amyloidosis.

Amyloid fibrils derived from antibody light chains are key pathogenic agents in systemic AL amyloidosis. They can be deposited in multiple organs but cardiac amyloid is the major risk factor of mortality. Here we report the structure of a λ1 AL amyloid fibril from an explanted human heart at a resolution of 3.

Physical basis of amyloid fibril polymorphism.

Polymorphism is a key feature of amyloid fibril structures but it remains challenging to explain these variations for a particular sample. Here, we report electron cryomicroscopy-based reconstructions from different fibril morphologies formed by a peptide fragment from an amyloidogenic immunoglobulin light chain. The observed fibril morphologies vary in the number and cross-sectional arrangement of a structurally conserved building block.

Common Fibril Structures Imply Systemically Conserved Protein Misfolding Pathways In Vivo.

Systemic amyloidosis is caused by the misfolding of a circulating amyloid precursor protein and the deposition of amyloid fibrils in multiple organs. Chemical and biophysical analysis of amyloid fibrils from human AL and murine AA amyloidosis reveal the same fibril morphologies in different tissues or organs of one patient or diseased animal. The observed structural similarities concerned the fibril morphology, the fibril protein primary and secondary structures, the presence of post-translational modifications and, in case of the AL fibrils, the partially folded characteristics of the polypeptide chain within the fibril.

Cryo-EM reveals the steric zipper structure of a light chain-derived amyloid fibril.

Amyloid fibrils are proteinaceous aggregates associated with diseases in humans and animals. The fibrils are defined by intermolecular interactions between the fibril-forming polypeptide chains, but it has so far remained difficult to reveal the assembly of the peptide subunits in a full-scale fibril. Using electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM), we present a reconstruction of a fibril formed from the pathogenic core of an amyloidogenic immunoglobulin (Ig) light chain.

Polymorphism of Amyloid Fibrils In Vivo.

Polymorphism is a wide-spread feature of amyloid-like fibrils formed in vitro, but it has so far remained unclear whether the fibrils formed within a patient are also affected by this phenomenon. In this study we show that the amyloid fibrils within a diseased individual can vary considerably in their three-dimensional architecture. We demonstrate this heterogeneity with amyloid fibrils deposited within different organs, formed from sequentially non-homologous polypeptide chains and affecting human or animals.

Molecular basis of β-amyloid oligomer recognition with a conformational antibody fragment.

Oligomers are intermediates of the β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide fibrillogenic pathway and are putative pathogenic culprits in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here we report the biotechnological generation and biochemical characterization of an oligomer-specific antibody fragment, KW1. KW1 not only discriminates between oligomers and other Aβ conformations, such as fibrils or disaggregated peptide; it also differentiates between different types of Aβ oligomers, such as those formed by Aβ (1-40) and Aβ (1-42) peptide.

Diversity in functional organization of class I and class II biotin protein ligase.

The cell envelope of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) is composed of a variety of lipids including mycolic acids, sulpholipids, lipoarabinomannans, etc., which impart rigidity crucial for its survival and pathogenesis.

Studies on oxygen chemical surface exchange and electrical conduction in thin film nanostructured titania at high temperatures and varying oxygen pressure.

We report on oxygen surface exchange studies in ∼450-nm-thick nanocrystalline titania films with an average grain size of ∼13 nm by electrical conductivity relaxation along with the conductivity measurements at varying temperatures and oxygen partial pressures (pO(2)s). By electrochemical impedance spectroscopy technique, the high temperature conductivity was measured in the pO(2) range from ∼10(-16) to ∼10(-6) Pa at temperatures from 973 to 1223 K and activation energy, ΔE(a), for conduction was estimated as ∼3.23 eV at pO(2) ∼10(-11) Pa.

New method to prepare polycrystalline meta-thioboric acid, (HBS(2))(3).

A new method to prepare polycrystalline meta-thioboric acid (c-HBS(2)) has been developed and reported. HBS(2) was obtained as a vapor condensate by reacting H(2)S with B(2)S(3) in the vapor phase, and the optimal conditions for this reaction are reported. The X-ray and spectroscopic characterization suggest that the structure of thioboric acid is monoclinic and made up of hexagonal rings formed by trimer units, (HBS(2))(3).