Functional Amyloids Used by Organisms : a Lesson in Controlling Assembly

Titelangaben

Smith, Andrew M. ; Scheibel, Thomas:
Functional Amyloids Used by Organisms : a Lesson in Controlling Assembly.
In: Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics. Bd. 211 (2010) Heft 2 . - S. 127-135.
ISSN 1521-3935
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.200900420

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Abstract

Amyloid has been studied primarily in relation to the disease states that it causes in humans, but in recent years, a range of proteins have been identified that self-assemble to a β-sheet rich fold as part of their native function and as such have been termed as functional amyloids.1 These functional amyloids fulfil a range of tasks within cells and extracellularly. In this paper, we will discuss the concept of functional amyloids, specifically in the sense of a structural component for the producing organism. Additionally, we will discuss how these organisms have controlled amyloid formation so that it only occurs at specific locations and at a desired time.