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Thermally Induced Fibrillar Aggregation of Hen Egg White Lysozyme

Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and Colloid Science, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Renko de Vries, Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and Colloid Science, Wageningen University, PO Box 8038, Wageningen 6700 EK, The Netherlands. Tel.: 31-317-484561; E-mail: renko.devries{at}wur.nl.

We study the effect of pH and temperature on fibril formation from hen egg white lysozyme. Fibril formation is promoted by low pH and temperatures close to the midpoint temperature for protein unfolding (detected using far-ultraviolet circular dichroism). At the optimal conditions for fibril formation (pH 2.0, T = 57°C), on-line static light-scattering shows the formation of fibrils after a concentration-independent lag time of 48 h. Nucleation presumably involves a change in the conformation of individual lysozyme molecules. Indeed, long-term circular dichroism measurements at pH 2.0, T = 57°C show a marked change of the secondary structure of lysozyme molecules after 48 h of heating. From atomic force microscopy we find that most of the fibrils have a thickness of 4 nm. These fibrils have a coiled structure with a periodicity of 30 nm and show characteristic defects after every four or five turns.