Electric Double Layer Phenomena Near Surfaces Irreversibly Trigger Assembly of Tau Protein
. Assembly occurs on different electrode materials at identical effective electric fields, demonstrating independence from the electrode hydrophobicity and electronic structure. Surface-enhanced infrared absorption and plasmon resonance spectroscopies show that near-surface electric fields of ∼1 MV/cm trigger K18 folding and assembly. Ion ordering and charge screening near electrodes at higher salt concentrations (50 vs 1 mM) also reduce Coulombic repulsion between protein monomers and their cationic residues, promoting folding and assembly. Overall, these results show that interfacial electric fields and other non-Faradaic processes can reveal and drive protein misfolding and aggregation, hallmarks of tauopathies and prion-related neurodegenerative diseases.
Authors
- Norleakvisoth Lim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4161-934X)
- Eloïse Masquelier (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1380-3104)
- Michael J. Gordon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0123-9649)
- Lior Sepunaru (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4716-5035)
- Madeline H. Hicks (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5476-1871)
- J. I. Yi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8380-1134)
- Daniel E. Morse
Institutions
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- University of California System (US)
- Material (Belgium) (BE)
- Institut thématique Génétique, génomique et bioinformatique (FR)
- Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Published
- 2026-04-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5c23171
- Primary Topic
- Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Army Research Office
- Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies