Zn²⁺ Binding Increases Parallel Structure in the Aβ(16-22) Oligomer by Disrupting Salt Bridge in Antiparallel...

The aggregation of monomeric amyloid β protein (Aβ) into oligomers and amyloid plaque in the brain is associated with Alzheimer's disease. The hydrophobic central core Aβ_16-22 has been widely studied due to its essential role in the fibrillization of full-length Aβ peptides. Compared to the homogeneous antiparallel structure of Aβ_16-22 at the late stage, the early-stage prefibrillar aggregates contain varying proportions of different β structures. In this work, we studied the appearance probabilities of various self-assembly structures of Aβ_16-22 and the effects of Zn²⁺ on these probabilities by replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations. It was found that at room temperature, Aβ_16-22 can readily form assembled β-sheet structures in pure water, where a typical antiparallel arrangement dominates (24.8% of all sampled trimer structures). The addition of Zn²⁺ to the Aβ_16-22 solution will dramatically decrease the appearance probability of antiparallel trimer structures to 12.5% by disrupting the formation of the Lys16-Glu22 salt bridge. Meanwhile, the probabilities of hybrid antiparallel/parallel structures increase. Our simulation results not only reveal the competition between antiparallel and parallel structures in the Aβ_16-22 oligomers but also show that Zn²⁺ can affect the oligomer structures. The results also provide insights into the role of metal ions in the self-assembly of short peptides.