Figure 1.

Schematic representation of amyloid fibril formation. (A) Fibril formation can be characterized by a lag phase where nucleation events occur, following critical nucleation a growth/elongation phase is observed which can proceed via primary (monomer addition) or secondary (fragmentation/secondary nucleation) events (B). During the latter stages, mature fibrils are formed which often display strong ThT emission signals. (C) Addition of fibrils or other functional seeds to the start of the reaction allows elongation to proceed without the requirement for primary nucleation removing the lag phase.