BIOPHYSICAL THEORY AND MODELING |
Contact-induced structure transformation in transmembrane
prion propagation
D.-M. Ou 1, C.-C. Chen 1 and Chi-Ming Chen 2*
1 National Taiwan Normal Univ.
2 National Taiwan Normal University
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: cchen{at}phy.ntnu.edu.tw.
Submitted on September 28, 2006
Revised on November 17, 2006
Accepted on 9 January 2007
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Abstract |
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Based on recent experimental evidences of the transmission of = prion diseases due to a particular transmembrane form (termed CtmPrP), we propose a theoretical model for the molecular mechanism of such conformational diseases, in which a misfolded CtmPrP induces a similar misfolding of another CtmPrP. Computer simulations are performed to investigate the correlation between folding time and the concentration of misfolded PrP in various processes, including dimerization, trimerization, and cooperative dimerization. By comparing with the experimental correlation curve between incubation time and injected dose of scrapie prions, we conclude that cooperative dimerization may play an important role in the pathological mechanism of prion diseases.
Key Words:
computer simulations, prion propagation, theoretical model
