Multidimensional Structure-Activity Relationship of a Protein in Its Aggregated States

摘要

Protein aggregation has been associated with pathological conditions, is an ever-present challenge for the cell machinery, but is also involved in biological functions. Furthermore, aggregation into inclusion bodies during protein overexpression in Escherichia coli and during the production of protein pharmaceuticals are concerns in biotechnology, whereas deliberately induced aggregation is utilized as a biochemical method, as in trichloroacetic acid (TCA) precipitation. Astbury and Dickinson suggested from studies of poached egg white that when proteins aggregate, they go into alternative, fibrous conformational states composed of β sheets that run across the fibril.