Age-dependent formation of insoluble protein aggregates is a hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases. We are interested in the cell chemistry that drives the aggregation of polyQ-expanded mutant Huntingtin (mHtt) protein into insoluble inclusion bodies (IBs). Using an inducible cell model of Huntington's disease, we show that a transient cold shock (CS) at 4 °C followed by recovery incubation at temperatures of 25-37 °C strongly and rapidly induces the compaction of diffuse polyQ-expanded HuntingtinExon1-enhanced green fluorescent protein chimera protein (mHtt) into round, micron size, cytosolic IBs. This transient CS-induced mHtt IB formation is independent of microtubule integrity or de novo protein synthesis. The addition of millimolar concentrations of sodium chloride accelerates, whereas urea suppresses this transient CS-induced mHtt IB formation. These results suggest that the low temperature of CS constrains the conformation dynamics of the intrinsically disordered mHtt into labile intermediate structures to facilitate de-solvation and hydrophobic interaction for IB formation at the higher recovery temperature. This work, along with our previous observation of the effects of heat shock protein chaperones and osmolytes in driving mHtt IB formation, underscores the primacy of mHtt structuring and rigidification for H-bond-mediated cross-linking in a two-step mechanism of mHtt IB formation in living cells.
Keywords: IDP; aggregation; de-solvation; polyQ-Huntingtin; rigidification.