Cryo-EM structures of lipidic fibrils of amyloid-β (1-40)

Abstract Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive and incurable neurodegenerative disease characterized by the extracellular deposition of amyloid plaques. Investigation into the composition of these plaques revealed a high amount of amyloid-β (Aβ) fibrils and a high concentration of lipids, sugges...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Benedikt Frieg, Mookyoung Han, Karin Giller, Christian Dienemann, Dietmar Riedel, Stefan Becker, Loren B. Andreas, Christian Griesinger, Gunnar F. Schröder
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-02-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43822-x
Description
Summary:Abstract Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive and incurable neurodegenerative disease characterized by the extracellular deposition of amyloid plaques. Investigation into the composition of these plaques revealed a high amount of amyloid-β (Aβ) fibrils and a high concentration of lipids, suggesting that fibril-lipid interactions may also be relevant for the pathogenesis of AD. Therefore, we grew Aβ40 fibrils in the presence of lipid vesicles and determined their structure by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to high resolution. The fold of the major polymorph is similar to the structure of brain-seeded fibrils reported previously. The majority of the lipids are bound to the fibrils, as we show by cryo-EM and NMR spectroscopy. This apparent lipid extraction from vesicles observed here in vitro provides structural insights into potentially disease-relevant fibril-lipid interactions.
ISSN:2041-1723