Enhanced sampling molecular dynamics identifies PrP(Sc) structures harboring a C-terminal β-core.

We perform a replica exchange molecular dynamics simulation corresponding to a 2.8 μs total time for the extensive enhanced sampling of the conformational space of the C-terminal part (residues 124-226) of the mouse prion protein (PrP); 1.3% of the conformations sampled display a high level of β-structure (≥19 residues), allowing the assessment of β-propensities along the sequence and highlighting the most structurally labile hot spots. A clustering algorithm is applied to sort the structures of this pool according to their fold. Ten β-rich folds are thus defined and analyzed with regard to their topology, accumulation temperatures, and structural characteristics. In contrast to the so-called spiral and β-helix models suggesting that the β-rich core of the scrapie isoform (PrP(Sc)) comprises the N-terminal tail and part of the C-terminal domain up to helix 1 (H1), we present putative structural models for monomeric precursors of PrP(Sc) and PrP β-oligomers that are characterized by a C-terminal β-rich core, in agreement with the suggestions of a series of recent experiments.