Role of different regions of alpha-synuclein in the assembly of fibrils

Biochemistry. 2007 Nov 20;46(46):13322-30. doi: 10.1021/bi7014053. Epub 2007 Oct 27.

Abstract

Elucidating the details of the assembly of amyloid fibrils is a key step to understanding the mechanism of amyloid deposition diseases including Parkinson's disease. Although several models have been proposed, based on analyses of polypeptides and short peptides, a detailed understanding of the structure and mechanism of alpha-synuclein fibrillation remains elusive. In this study, we used trypsin and endoproteinase GluC to digest intact alpha-synuclein fibrils and to analyze the detailed morphology of the resultant fibrils/remnants. We also created three mutants of alpha-synuclein, in which the N-terminal and C-terminal regions were removed, both individually and in combination, and investigated the detailed morphology of the fibrils from these mutants. Our results indicate that the assembly of mature alpha-synuclein fibrils is hierarchical: protofilaments --> protofibrils --> mature fibrils. There is a core region of approximately 70 amino acids, from residues approximately 32 to 102, which comprises the beta-rich core of the protofilaments and fibrils. In contrast, the two terminal regions show no evidence of participating in the assembly of the protofilament core but play a key role in the interactions between the protofilaments, which is necessary for the fibril maturation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amyloid / chemistry*
  • Amyloid / metabolism
  • Amyloid / ultrastructure
  • Crystallography
  • Humans
  • Microscopy, Atomic Force
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Serine Endopeptidases / metabolism
  • Trypsin / metabolism
  • alpha-Synuclein / chemistry*
  • alpha-Synuclein / metabolism
  • alpha-Synuclein / ultrastructure

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • SNCA protein, human
  • alpha-Synuclein
  • Serine Endopeptidases
  • glutamyl endopeptidase
  • Trypsin