Dear Colleagues,

Amyloids and their infective form, prions, occupy a special place in molecular biology; not central, but interesting and enigmatic. While DNA, RNA, and proteins were created by nature through natural selection, amyloids were not. They result from a side property – a kind of a flaw – of protein matter. Due to this, they mainly manifest as diseases. However, the nature can find use for any property, and there is already a fairly long list of useful mechanisms based on amyloids. The structure of amyloids is another interesting issue. In contrast to 3-D crystals formed by small molecules and globular proteins, amyloids are 1-dimensional crystals. While, during formation of 3-D crystals, the spatial freedom belongs to whole molecules, amyloids are formed by unfolded polypeptides in which every residue possesses some freedom before the amyloid structure is fixed. Amyloid formation in vitro requires just amyloidogenic protein, but in vivo, it is a complex process involving many other proteins, mainly chaperones.

According to the presented considerations, the main topics that will be the focus of this Special Issue are the process of in vivo amyloid formation, the structure of amyloids, and useful or potentially useful mechanisms based on amyloids and prions.

Dr. Vitaly V. Kushnirov
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.