An Insight into the pathway of the amyloid fibril formation of hen egg white lysozyme obtained from a small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering study

Yonezawa, Yasushige*; Tanaka, Shimpei*; Kubota, Tomomi*; Wakabayashi, Katsuzo*; Yutani, Katsuhide*; Fujiwara, Satoru

It is known that hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) forms amyloid fibrils in highly concentrated ethanol solutions. In order to gain an insight into the mechanism of the amyloid fibril formation, the structures of HEWL in solutions of various protein and ethanol concentrations were investigated with small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering. It was shown that the structural states of HEWL were distinguished as the monomer state, the state of the dimer formation, the state of the protofilament formation, the protofilament state, and the state towards the formation of the amyloid fibrils. Circular dichroism measurements showed that the large changes in the secondary structures of HEWL occurred during the dimer formation. Structural characterization showed that the dimers had an elongated shape, the protofilaments were formed by stacking of the dimers with their long axis (nearly) perpendicular to the protofilament axis, and the changes of the structural states towards the amyloid fibril formation occurred via lateral association of the protofilaments.