The seven-residue peptide N-acetyl-Lys-Leu-Val-Phe-Phe-Ala-Glu-NH(2), called A beta(16-22) and representing residues 16-22 of the full-length beta-amyloid peptide associated with Alzheimer's disease, is shown by electron microscopy to form highly ordered fibrils upon incubation of aqueous solutions. X-ray powder diffraction and optical birefringence measurements confirm that these are amyloid fibrils. The peptide conformation and supramolecular organization in A beta(16-22) fibrils are investigated by solid state (13)C NMR measurements. Two-dimensional magic-angle spinning (2D MAS) exchange and constant-time double-quantum-filtered dipolar recoupling (CTDQFD) measurements indicate a beta-strand conformation of the peptide backbone at the central phenylalanine. One-dimensional and two-dimensional spectra of selectively and uniformly labeled samples exhibit (13)C NMR line widths of <2 ppm, demonstrating that the peptide, including amino acid side chains, has a well-ordered conformation in the fibrils. Two-dimensional (13)C-(13)C chemical shift correlation spectroscopy permits a nearly complete assignment of backbone and side chain (13)C NMR signals and indicates that the beta-strand conformation extends across the entire hydrophobic segment from Leu17 through Ala21. (13)C multiple-quantum (MQ) NMR and (13)C/(15)N rotational echo double-resonance (REDOR) measurements indicate an antiparallel organization of beta-sheets in the A beta(16-22) fibrils. These results suggest that the degree of structural order at the molecular level in amyloid fibrils can approach that in peptide or protein crystals, suggest how the supramolecular organization of beta-sheets in amyloid fibrils can be dependent on the peptide sequence, and illustrate the utility of solid state NMR measurements as probes of the molecular structure of amyloid fibrils. A beta(16-22) is among the shortest fibril-forming fragments of full-length beta-amyloid reported to date, and hence serves as a useful model system for physical studies of amyloid fibril formation.

Amyloid Fibril Formation by Aβ16-22, a Seven-Residue Fragment of the Alzheimer's β-Amyloid Peptide, and Structural Characterization by Solid State NMR†

Controllable arrays of ions and ultracold atoms can simulate complex many-body phenomena and may provide insights into unsolved problems in modern science. To this end, experimentally feasible protocols for quantifying the buildup of quantum correlations and coherence are needed, as performing full state tomography does not scale favourably with the number of particles. Here we develop and experimentally demonstrate such a protocol, which uses time reversal of the many-body dynamics to measure out-of-time-order correlation functions (OTOCs) in a long-range Ising spin quantum simulator with more than 100 ions in a Penning trap. By measuring a family of OTOCs as a function of a tunable parameter we obtain fine-grained information about the state of the system encoded in the multiple quantum coherence spectrum, extract the quantum state purity, and demonstrate the buildup of up to 8-body correlations. Future applications of this protocol could enable studies of many-body localization, quantum phase transitions, and tests of the holographic duality between quantum and gravitational systems. Characterizing the correlations of quantum many-body systems is known to be hard, but there are ways around: for example, a new method for measuring out-of-time correlations demonstrated in a Penning trap quantum simulator with over 100 ions.

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Measuring out-of-time-order correlations and multiple quantum spectra in a trapped ion quantum magnet

Silica Surface Features and Their Role in the Adsorption of Biomolecules: Computational Modeling and Experiments / Albert Rimola;Dominique Costa;Mariona Sodupe;Jean-François Lambert;Piero Ugliengo. In: CHEMICAL REVIEWS. ISSN 0009-2665. STAMPA. 113:6(2013), pp. 4216-4313. Original Citation: Silica Surface Features and Their Role in the Adsorption of Biomolecules: Computational Modeling and Experiments

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Silica Surface Features and Their Role in the Adsorption of Biomolecules: Computational Modeling and Experiments

Advanced solid-state NMR methods for the elucidation of structure and dynamics of molecular, macromolecular, and supramolecular systems.

Senile plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease contain deposits of fibrils formed by 39- to 43-residue β-amyloid peptides with possible neurotoxic effects. X-ray diffraction measurements on oriented fibril bundles have indicated an extended β-sheet structure for Alzheimer's β-amyloid fibrils and other amyloid fibrils, but the supramolecular organization of the β-sheets and other structural details are not well established because of the intrinsically noncrystalline, insoluble nature of amyloid fibrils. Here we report solid-state NMR measurements, using a multiple quantum (MQ) 13C NMR technique, that probe the β-sheet organization in fibrils formed by the full-length, 40-residue β-amyloid peptide (Aβ1–40). Although an antiparallel β-sheet organization often is assumed and is invoked in recent structural models for full-length β-amyloid fibrils, the MQNMR data indicate an in-register, parallel organization. This work provides site-specific, atomic-level structural constraints on full-length β-amyloid fibrils and applies MQNMR to a significant problem in structural biology.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/97/24/13045.full.pdf

Multiple quantum solid-state NMR indicates a parallel, not antiparallel, organization of β-sheets in Alzheimer's β-amyloid fibrils

Recently developed solid state multiple‐quantum NMR methods are applied to extended coupling networks, where direct dipole–dipole interactions can be used to create coherences of very high order (∼100). The progressive development of multiple‐quantum coherence over time depends upon the formation of multiple‐spin correlations, a phenomenon which also accompanies the normal decay to equilibrium of the free induction signal in a solid. Both the time development and the observed distributions of coherence can be approached statistically, with the spin system described by a time‐dependent density operator whose elements are completely uncorrelated at sufficiently long times. With this point of view, we treat the distribution of coherence in a multiple‐quantum spectrum as Gaussian, and characterize a spectrum obtained for a given preparation time by its variance. The variance of the distribution is associated roughly with the number of coupled spins effectively interacting, and its steady growth with time reflects the continual expansion of the system under the action of the dipolar interactions. The increase in effective system ‘‘size’’ is accounted for by a random walk model for the time development of the density operator. Experimental results are presented for hexamethylbenzene, adamantane, and squaric acid. The formation of coherence in systems containing physically isolated clusters is also investigated, and a simple method for estimating the number of spins involved is demonstrated.

Multiple-quantum dynamics in solid state NMR

Multiple-quantum nuclear-magnetic-resonance techniques are used to study the distribution of hydrogen in hydrogenated amorphous silicon. Using the fact that multiple-quantum excitation is limited by the size of the dipolar-coupled spin system, we show that the predominant bonding environment for hydrogen is a cluster of four to seven atoms. For device quality films, the concentration of these cluster defects increases with increasing hydrogen content. At very high hydrogen content, the clusters are replaced with a continuous network of silicon-hydrogen bonds.

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A. N. Garroway

Papers

Multiple-quantum dynamics in solid state NMR

Multiple-quantum NMR study of clustering in hydrogenated amorphous silicon.

NMR imaging in solids by multiple-quantum resonance

Phase enhancement for precise determination of small radiofrequency phase angles