pathways of amyloid formation

Starting from a description of the various conformational states adopted by a polypeptide chain and the names commonly used to designate such states, this chapter describes the graphical representations that are most commonly used to describe the process of amyloid fibril formation: (i) the time course of amyloid fibril formation monitored by a spectroscopic probe or other method to detect amyloid fibrils as opposed to any other conformational states, (ii) the energy landscape of amyloid fibril formation, and (iii) the network of equilibria showing the single reactions between different states and involving all possible conformational states of a protein. The chapter then shows the pathways commonly followed by a polypeptide chain to convert from its native state to amyloid fibrils and describes the mechanisms of nucleation, that is the processes recognized to be effective for the formation of nuclei competent for amyloid fibril elongation.