Investigation of amyloid fibrils forming proteins

Self-assembly of biomolecules into beta-sheet structures can be applied in the creation of nano-materials with novel electrical, optical, catalytical, or/and mechanical characteristics. This work was directed towards the construction of nano-derivatives based on amyloid fibrils forming proteins (Abeta40 peptide, a-Synuclein (a-Syn), equine lysozyme (EL)). Such nanostructures can be used to produce nanoscale functional systems. Herein, different mutant and hybrid proteins, which were able to form fibrillar structures, were constructed and the properties of fibrils were investigated. Designed cysteine mutants of Abeta40 and a-Syn can be modified through thiol group of cysteine. Herein, for the first time, it was demonstrated that a-Syncys141 fibrils could be modified with biotin and gold nanoparticles with neutravidin molecules. Hybrid proteins of Abeta40 or a-Syn and other non-amyloid proteins were designed on purpose to obtain fibrils with active functional non-amyloid proteins. Under appropriate conditions, these proteins aggregated into beta-sheet structures. Hybrid protein of streptavidin and Abeta40 formed a net-like fibrillar structure, and streptavidin was active. For the first time it was described the production of recombinant EL in E. coli. Moreover, active EL can form fibrils, which are similar to the fibrils formed by native EL. Constructed novel hybrids and mutants that are able to form amyloid fibrils, can be applied for the creation of functionalized nanodevices