ATP enhances at low concentrations but dissolves at high concentrations liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of ALS/FTD-causing FUS

Abstract

ATP is the universal energy currency but mysteriously its cellular concentration is much higher than that needed for providing energy. Recently ATP was decoded to act as a hydrotrope to dissolve liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of FUS whose aggregation leads to ALS/FTD. By DIC microscopy and NMR, here we characterized the effect of ATP on LLPS of FUS and its N-/C-terminal domains. Very unexpectedly, we found that like nucleic acids, ATP enhances LLPS of FUS at low but dissolves at high concentrations. Intriguingly, ATP monotonically dissolves LLPS of NTD, while it induces LLPS of CTD at low but dissolves at high concentrations. Our study reveals for the first time that ATP can enhance LLPS most likely by behaving as a bivalent binder. Most importantly, our results imply that age-dependent reduction of ATP concentrations may not only result in decreasing its capacity in preventing protein aggregation, but also in enhancing aggregation.

Keywords: Adenosine triphosphate (ATP); Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); Frontotemporal dementia (FTD); Fused in sarcoma (FUS); Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS); NMR spectroscopy.