Regulation of Metabolism and Structural Polymorphism of Amyloid Fibrils

Propagation of amyloid is achieved by the combination of amyloid formation and disaggregation. Although both processes in the cell are regulated by molecular chaperones such as Hsp104 and Hsp70, the underlying molecular mechanism has remained elusive. Here we review a recent progress of metabolic regulation of amyloid fibrils, and discuss about the effects of dynamic conformational fluctuation of monomeric proteins on structural polymorphism of amyloid. The detailed analysis of the processes of amyloid formation and disaggregation by biophysical methods will provide important mechanistic insights into the cellular process responsible for amyloid propagation.