Molecular Rotors Provide Insights into Microscopic Structural Changes During Protein Aggregation.
File(s)Manuscript ACS 2015-07-10_submitted.pdf (1.31 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Changes in microscopic viscosity represent an important characteristic of structural transitions in soft matter systems. Here we demonstrate the use of molecular rotors to explore the changes in microrheology accompanying the transition of proteins from their soluble states into a gel phase composed of amyloid fibrils. The formation of beta-sheet rich protein aggregates, including amyloid fibrils, is a hallmark of a number of neurodegenerative disorders, and as such, the mechanistic details of this process are actively sought after. In our experiments, molecular rotors report an increase in rigidity of approximately three orders of magnitude during the aggregation reaction. Moreover, phasor analysis of the fluorescence decay signal from the molecular rotors suggests the presence of multiple distinct mechanistic stages during the aggregation process. Our results show that molecular rotors can reveal key microrheological features of protein systems not observable through classical fluorescent probes operating in light switch mode.
Date Issued
2015-07-20
Date Acceptance
2015-07-20
Citation
Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2015, 119 (32), pp.10170-10179
ISSN
1520-6106
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Start Page
10170
End Page
10179
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Physical Chemistry B
Volume
119
Issue
32
Copyright Statement
This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in J. Phys. Chem. B,, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.jpcb.5b05099
Publication Status
Published