@article {2019|2109, title = {Amyloid-β (29{\textendash}42) Dimeric Conformations in Membranes Rich in Omega-3 and Omega-6 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids}, journal = {The Journal of Physical Chemistry B}, volume = {123}, year = {2019}, pages = {2687{\textendash}2696}, author = {Lu, Yan and Shi, Xiao-Feng and Phuong Hoang Nguyen and Sterpone, Fabio and Salsbury Jr, Freddie R and Philippe Derreumaux} } @article {2018|2034, title = {Influence of electric field on the amyloid-β(29-42) peptides embedded in a membrane bilayer.}, journal = {J Chem Phys}, volume = {148}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Jan 28}, pages = {045105}, abstract = {

Alzheimer\&$\#$39;s disease is linked to various types of aggregates of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide and their interactions with protein receptors and neuronal cell membranes. Little is known on the impact of the electric field on membrane-embedded Aβ. Here we use atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to study the effects of a constant electric field on the conformations of Aβdimer inside a membrane, where the electric field has a strength of 20 mV/nm which exists across the membrane of a human neuron. Starting from α-helix peptides, the transmembrane electric field (TMEF) accelerates the conversion from the Gly-out substate to the Gly-side and Gly-in substates. Starting from β-sheet peptides, TMEF induces changes of the kink and tilt angles at Gly33 and Gly37. Overall, in the simulations totaling 10 μs, TMEF establishes new ground states for the dimer, similar to induced-fit in ligand binding. Our findings indicate that TMEF can stabilize rare conformations of amyloid peptides, and this could influence the cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein and the formation of β-sheet oligomers in membrane bilayers.

}, issn = {1089-7690}, doi = {10.1063/1.5018459}, author = {Lu, Yan and Shi, Xiao-Feng and Salsbury, Freddie R and Philippe Derreumaux} } @article {2017|2040, title = {Small static electric field strength promotes aggregation-prone structures in amyloid-β(29-42).}, journal = {J Chem Phys}, volume = {146}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Apr 14}, pages = {145101}, abstract = {

The formation of senile plaques in central neural system resulting from the aggregation of the amyloid β (Aβ) of 40 and 42 residues is one of the two hallmarks of Alzheimer\&$\#$39;s disease. Numerous experiments and computational studies have shown that the aggregation of Aβ peptides in vitro is very complex and depends on many factors such as pH, agitation, temperature, and peptide concentration. The impact of a static electric field (EF) on amyloid peptide aggregation has been much less studied, although EFs may have some applications to treat Parkinson\&$\#$39;s disease symptoms. Here, we study the influence of an EF strength of 20 mV/nm, present in the human brains, on the conformation of the Aβdimer. Our 7 μs non-equilibrium atomistic simulations in aqueous solution show that this field-strength promotes substantially the formation of β-hairpins, believed to be a very important intermediate state during aggregation. This work also suggests that structural biology experiments conducted under appropriate EF strengths may help reduce the conformational heterogeneity of Aβ/Aβdimers and provide significant insights into their structures that may be disease-causing.

}, issn = {1089-7690}, doi = {10.1063/1.4979866}, author = {Lu, Yan and Shi, Xiao-Feng and Salsbury, Freddie R and Philippe Derreumaux} } @article {2012|1886, title = {Structural, thermodynamical, and dynamical properties of oligomers formed by the amyloid NNQQ peptide: Insights from coarse-grained simulations}, journal = {J. Chem. Phys.}, volume = {137}, number = {2}, year = {2012}, month = {jul}, pages = {025101}, doi = {10.1063/1.4732761}, author = {Lu, Yan and Wei, Guanghong and Philippe Derreumaux} } @article {2011|1919, title = {Effects of G33A and G33I Mutations on the Structures of Monomer and Dimer of the Amyloid-beta Fragment 29-42 by Replica Exchange Molecular Dynamics Simulations}, journal = {J. Phys. Chem. B}, volume = {115}, number = {5}, year = {2011}, month = {feb}, pages = {1282{\textendash}1288}, doi = {10.1021/jp110269a}, author = {Lu, Yan and Wei, Guanghong and Philippe Derreumaux} } @article {2009|2009, title = {Structural diversity of the soluble trimers of the human amylin(20-29) peptide revealed by molecular dynamics simulations}, journal = {J. Chem. Phys.}, volume = {130}, number = {12}, year = {2009}, month = {mar}, pages = {125101}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence, Amyloid, Humans, Models, Molecular, Molecular Sequence Data, Peptide Fragments, Protein Multimerization, Protein Structure, Quaternary, Solubility, Solvents}, doi = {10.1063/1.3097982}, author = {Mo, Yuxiang and Lu, Yan and Wei, Guanghong and Philippe Derreumaux} } @article {2009|2019, title = {Thermodynamics and dynamics of amyloid peptide oligomerization are sequence dependent}, journal = {Proteins: Struct., Funct., Bioinf.}, volume = {75}, number = {4}, year = {2009}, month = {jun}, pages = {954{\textendash}963}, keywords = {Amino Acid Sequence, Amyloid beta-Protein, beta 2-Microglobulin, Cluster Analysis, Computer Simulation, Models, Molecular, Peptide Fragments, Protein Multimerization, Protein Structure, Secondary, Structure-Activity Relationship, Thermodynamics}, doi = {10.1002/prot.22305}, author = {Lu, Yan and Philippe Derreumaux and Guo, Zhi and Mousseau, Normand and Wei, Guanghong} }