MIT Libraries logoDSpace@MIT

MIT
View Item 
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • View Item
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • MIT Open Access Articles
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Optical Trapping with High Forces Reveals Unexpected Behaviors of Prion Fibrils

Author(s)
Dong, Jijun; Castro, Carlos E.; Boyce, Mary Cunningham; Lang, Matthew J.; Lindquist, Susan
Thumbnail
DownloadLindquist_Optical trapping.pdf (3.184Mb)
OPEN_ACCESS_POLICY

Open Access Policy

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike

Terms of use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
Amyloid fibrils are important in diverse cellular functions, feature in many human diseases and have potential applications in nanotechnology. Here we describe methods that combine optical trapping and fluorescent imaging to characterize the forces that govern the integrity of amyloid fibrils formed by a yeast prion protein. A crucial advance was to use the self-templating properties of amyloidogenic proteins to tether prion fibrils, enabling their manipulation in the optical trap. At normal pulling forces the fibrils were impervious to disruption. At much higher forces (up to 250 pN), discontinuities occurred in force-extension traces before fibril rupture. Experiments with selective amyloid-disrupting agents and mutations demonstrated that such discontinuities were caused by the unfolding of individual subdomains. Thus, our results reveal unusually strong noncovalent intermolecular contacts that maintain fibril integrity even when individual monomers partially unfold and extend fibril length.
Date issued
2010-11
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74086
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Journal
Nature Structural and Molecular Biology
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Dong, Jijun et al. “Optical Trapping with High Forces Reveals Unexpected Behaviors of Prion Fibrils.” Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 17.12 (2010): 1422–1430.
Version: Author's final manuscript
ISSN
1545-9993
1545-9985

Collections
  • MIT Open Access Articles

Browse

All of DSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

My Account

Login

Statistics

OA StatisticsStatistics by CountryStatistics by Department
MIT Libraries
PrivacyPermissionsAccessibilityContact us
MIT
Content created by the MIT Libraries, CC BY-NC unless otherwise noted. Notify us about copyright concerns.