Sub-ångstrom cryo-EM structure of a prion protofibril reveals a polar clasp

The atomic structure of the infectious, protease-resistant, β-sheet-rich and fibrillar mammalian prion remains unknown. Through the cryo-EM method MicroED, we reveal the sub-ångström-resolution structure of a protofibril formed by a wild-type segment from the β2–α2 loop of the bank vole prion protein. The structure of this protofibril reveals a stabilizing network of hydrogen bonds that link polar zippers within a sheet, producing motifs we have named ‘polar clasps’. MicroED structure of a peptide from the β2–α2 loop of the bank vole prion protein reveals a protofibril stabilized by a dense network of hydrogen bonds.

• Publication year

  2018

• Venue

  Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

• Publication date

  2018-01-15

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1038/s41594-017-0018-0PMID 29335561PMCID 6170007
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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