Yifat Miller

It has been suggested that the connection between amyloidogenic diseases is related to the interactions between aggregates of amyloids, which are related to type 2 diabetes and Parkinson's disease. Herein, we illustrate the interactions between amylin oligomers and non-amyloid β component (NAC) oligomers. Using molecular dynamics simulations and statistical calculations, we studied the mechanisms through which NAC oligomers interact with amylin oligomers to form NAC-amylin hetero-oligomers. Our simulations have shown that there are more than one possible pathways, which form the NAC-amylin hetero-oligomers. Our structural analyses demonstrate that the interactions in the NAC-amylin hetero-oligomers do not affect the structural features of the NAC oligomers, but they do stabilize the structures of the amylin oligomers. Taken together, our results strongly support the hypothesis that NAC oligomers may interact with amylin oligomers through several pathways, of which some pathways are more preferred because of the structural stability of the cross-seeding NAC-amylin oligomers.