The role of entropy in initializing the aggregation of peptides: a first principle study on oligopeptide oligomerization.

The initiation and progression of Alzheimer's disease is coupled to the oligo- and polymerization of amyloid peptides in the brain. Amyloid like aggregates of protein domains were found practically independent of their primary sequences. Thus, the driving force of the transformation from the original to a disordered amyloid fold is expected to lie in the protein backbone common to all proteins.