Amyloid Peptide Nanofibrils Promote Efficient Neurotransmitter Oxidation and Serve as Scaffolds for Melanin Production.

We have shown that de novo designed peptides self-assemble in the presence of copper to create supramolecular assemblies capable of carrying out the oxidation of a range of neurotransmitters in the presence of dioxygen and hydrogen peroxide with high efficiency and in a sequence dependent manner. Moreover, these catalytic peptide assemblies are capable of templating melanin production. Guided by the structure activity relationships identified using the model systems we discovered that peptide assemblies formed by fragments of human carbonic anhydrase VII found in the brain also promote neurotransmitter degradation, supporting its role in neurodegenerative disease. Altogether, our results further support the role of metal-promoted catalysis in neurodegenerative disease and will facilitate development of new catalyst nanomaterials capable of promoting oxidative transformation.