Peptide dimer structure in an Aβ(1–42) fibril visualized with cryo-EM

Abstract

Significance β-Amyloid (Aβ) fibrils are formed from Aβ peptide and are a hallmark feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Despite their involvement in AD, much remains unclear about the formation of these aggregates and their structures at the molecular level. We have obtained a 3D image of a fibril formed from the Aβ(1–42) peptide isoform using electron cryomicroscopy and built a partial atomic model based on these data. We show that the core of the fibril is formed by two peptide C termini, explaining why aggregation inhibitors are most potent when targeting the C terminus. Our model explains how addition of C-terminal amino acids may stabilize peptide interaction and how fibril stability is affected by mutations leading to familial AD.