Structural evolution of fibril polymorphs during amyloid assembly. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38134875/)

These scientists used a special microscope called cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) to study a substance called amyloid fibrils. Amyloid fibrils are structures that are found in our bodies and can be related to certain diseases. The scientists wanted to understand how these fibrils form and change over time.

To do this, they took a variant of a protein called human islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP-S20G) and watched how it turned into fibrils in a lab. They used the cryo-EM microscope to take pictures of the fibrils at different stages of their formation.

What they found was very interesting! The fibrils looked different at the beginning, middle, and end of the process. Some new forms of fibrils appeared while others disappeared as time went on. They also did the same experiment with a normal version of the protein and saw similar changes in the fibrils.

This means that the structure of the fibrils can change as they are being formed. These changes might help us understand how amyloid fibrils are related to diseases and how they progress over time. It's like solving a puzzle to understand what happens in our bodies when these fibrils are formed.

Wilkinson M., Xu Y., Thacker D., Taylor AIP., Fisher DG., Gallardo RU., Radford SE., Ranson NA. Structural evolution of fibril polymorphs during amyloid assembly. Cell. 2023 Dec 21;186(26):5798-5811.e26. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2023.11.025.