Effect of natural biopolymers on amyloid fibril formation and morphology

Amyloid fibrils are associated with the pathogenesis of protein misfolding diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. These fibrils typically exhibit different morphologies when grown in vitro, and this has been known to affect their biological properties and cytotoxicity. The formation kinetics and resultant morphology of fibrils formed from the model proteins Bovine Insulin and Hen Egg White Lysozyme have been measured. We show that the presence of gum arabic and pectin during fibril formation cause the amyloid fibrils formed to associate into higher order fibrillar aggregates. It is postulated that the carbohydrates act as a template to promote inter-fibril association, resulting in larger, thicker fibrils. This observation provides some insight into the differences in growing amyloid fibrils in vitro in the absence or presence of other high molecular weight compounds. Furthermore, these findings suggest a method of tailoring fibril structure for applications in nanotechnology and bio-template applications.