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Molecular Insights into the Effect of Metals on Amyloid Aggregation

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Computer Simulations of Aggregation of Proteins and Peptides

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2340))

Abstract

Amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are characterized by accumulation of misfolded proteins’ species, e.g., oligomers and fibrils. The formation of these species occurs via self-assemble of the misfolded proteins in a process which is named “aggregation.” It is known that essential divalent metal ions initiate the aggregation of these misfolded proteins, and that specific concentrations of these metal ions may be implicated in the pathology of amyloid diseases. This chapter focuses on the effects of two of the most common divalent metal ions in the brain—Zn2+ and Cu2+, and while Zn2+ ion is known as a metal that is release from the pancreas. Specifically, the spotlight of this chapter illustrates recent computational molecular modelling studies that investigate the effect of the concentrations of metal ions on aggregation of the misfolded proteins amylin, amyloid β, and α-synuclein. The challenges for computational molecular modeling and future perspectives are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er-Sheva, Israel

    Yifat Miller

  2. Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er-Sheva, Israel

    Yifat Miller

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  1. Yifat Miller
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Correspondence to Yifat Miller .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Theoretical Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

    Mai Suan Li

  2. Battelle Center for Mathematical Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA

    Andrzej Kloczkowski

  3. Instutute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

    Marek Cieplak

  4. Battelle Center for Mathematical Medicine, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA

    Maksim Kouza

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Miller, Y. (2022). Molecular Insights into the Effect of Metals on Amyloid Aggregation. In: Li, M.S., Kloczkowski, A., Cieplak, M., Kouza, M. (eds) Computer Simulations of Aggregation of Proteins and Peptides . Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2340. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1546-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1546-1_7

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1545-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1546-1

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