Discovery of how amyloids bind metal ions sheds light on protein function

Amyloids are clumps of protein fragments that stick together to form stringy fibrils such as the plaques seen in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Many of these proteins bind to metals such as zinc, but the structure of these metal-bound proteins has been difficult to study. The importance of these metals to the activity of amyloids thus remains an open question, which is all the more perplexing because some amyloids are associated with disease but others are not.

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