Chemical modification of insulin in amyloid fibrils

We have investigated the chemical modification of insulin under conditions that promote the conversion of the soluble protein into amyloid fibrils. The modifications that are incorporated into the fibrils include deamidation of Asn A21, Asn B3, and Gln B4. In order to prepare fibrils with minimal deamidation of these residues, the kinetics of aggregation were accelerated by seeding with aliquots of a solution containing preformed fibrils. The resulting fibrils were then reincubated to determine the extent to which chemical modification occurs in the fibril itself. The deamidation of Asn A21 in particular could be followed in detail. Deamidation of this residue in the fibrillar form of insulin was found to occur in only 52 +/- 5% of molecules. This result indicates that there are at least two different packing environments of insulin molecules in the fibrils and suggests that the characterization of chemical modifications may be a useful probe of the environment of polypeptide chains within amyloid fibrils.