Internal and environmental effects on folding and dimerization of the Alzheimer's β amyloid peptide.

Amyloid deposits are a hallmark of many diseases. In the case of Alzheimer's disease a turn between 21Ala and 30Ala, stabilized by a salt bridge between 22Glu/23Asp and 28Lys, may nucleate folding and aggregation of the Aβ peptide. In the present paper we test this hypothesis by studying how salt bridge and turn formation vary with intrinsic and environmental changes, and how these changes effect folding and aggregation of the Aβ peptide.