Table 3.

Examples of ways in which the terms ‘protein aggregate’, ‘protein complex’, ‘protein-containing complex’, and ‘macromolecular complex’ are used in the literature.

Term	Usage examples
Protein aggregate	“[…] highly-ordered, β-sheet rich, insoluble aggregates are implicated in a diverse group of neurodegenerative diseases, including prion, Alzheimer, Parkinson and Huntington disease. In aged patients, often different aggregated proteins coexist.” [19] “Ordered aggregates are nm-long (un)branched amyloid fibrils, arranged in a cross β-sheet structure [3]. Disordered aggregates […] are the result of acute cellular stimuli (i.e., stress-caused denaturation, lack of assembly partners).” [20]
Protein complex	“Independent evidence from global quantification of both protein production and decay using ribosome profiling and metabolic pulse labeling experiments has culminated in a conserved principle that the proportion of complex components is indeed carefully maintained.” [21]

Term

Usage examples

Protein aggregate

“[…] highly-ordered, β-sheet rich, insoluble aggregates are implicated in a diverse group of neurodegenerative diseases, including prion, Alzheimer, Parkinson and Huntington disease. In aged patients, often different aggregated proteins coexist.” [19]
“Ordered aggregates are nm-long (un)branched amyloid fibrils, arranged in a cross β-sheet structure [3]. Disordered aggregates […] are the result of acute cellular stimuli (i.e., stress-caused denaturation, lack of assembly partners).” [20]

Protein complex

“Independent evidence from global quantification of both protein production and decay using ribosome profiling and metabolic pulse labeling experiments has culminated in a conserved principle that the proportion of complex components is indeed carefully maintained.” [21]