Determination of factors governing fibrillogenesis of polypeptide chains using lattice models

Using lattice models we explore the factors that determine the tendencies of polypeptide chains to aggregate by exhaustively sampling the sequence and conformational space. The morphologies of the fibril-like structures and the time scales ($tau_{fib}$) for their formation depend on a subtle balance between hydrophobic and coulomb interactions. The extent of population of a fibril-prone structure in the spectrum of monomer conformations is the major determinant of $tau_{fib}$. This observation is used to determine the aggregation-prone consensus sequences by exhaustively exploring the sequence space. Our results provide a basis for genome wide search of fragments that are aggregation prone.