Polymorphism of fibrillar structures depending on the size of assembled Aβ_17-42 peptides

The size of assembled Aβ_17-42 peptides can determine polymorphism during oligomerization and fibrillization, but the mechanism of this effect is unknown. Starting from separate random monomers, various fibrillar oligomers with distinct structural characteristics were identified using discontinuous molecular dynamics simulations based on a coarse-grained protein model. From the structures observed in the simulations, two characteristic oligomer sizes emerged, trimer and paranuclei, which generated distinct structural patterns during fibrillization. A majority of the simulations for trimers and tetramers formed non-fibrillar oligomers, which primarily progress to off-pathway oligomers. Pentamers and hexamers were significantly converted into U-shape fibrillar structures, meaning that these oligomers, called paranuclei, might be potent on-pathway intermediates in fibril formation. Fibrillar oligomers larger than hexamers generated substantial polymorphism in which hybrid structures were readily formed and homogeneous fibrillar structures appeared infrequently.