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Daniel Otzen

A monomer-trimer model supports intermittent glucagon fibril growth

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  • Andrej Košmrlj, Harvard University, United States
  • Pia Cordsen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Anders Kyrsting, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Daniel Otzen
  • Lene B Oddershede, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Mogens H Jensen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

We investigate in vitro fibrillation kinetics of the hormone peptide glucagon at various concentrations using confocal microscopy and determine the glucagon fibril persistence length 60μm. At all concentrations we observe that periods of individual fibril growth are interrupted by periods of stasis. The growth probability is large at high and low concentrations and is reduced for intermediate glucagon concentrations. To explain this behavior we propose a simple model, where fibrils come in two forms, one built entirely from glucagon monomers and one entirely from glucagon trimers. The opposite building blocks act as fibril growth blockers, and this generic model reproduces experimental behavior well.

Original languageEnglish
Article number9005
JournalScientific Reports
Volume5
Pages (from-to)1-6
Number of pages6
ISSN2045-2322
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Mar 2015

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