Mechanical characterization of biomole-cular fibrils using molecular dynamics

Amyloid fibrils exhibit excellent mechanical properties such as elastic modulus in the order of 10 GPa, which also play a critical role in various disease expressions. These excellent mechanical properties of amyloid fibrils are related to their functional role in disease expression. However, it is not clearly understood how amyloid fibrils can exhibit remarkable mechanical properties. In this study, mechanical characterization of biomolecular nanofibrils using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is examined and studied with respect to its structural hierarchies and structural shapes by coarse-grained normal mode analysis. The results show that the amyloid fibril can achieve the excellent bending rigidity and moreover, the length-dependent mechanical properties of amyloids are found.