Specific domains in anterior pharynx-defective 1 determine its intramembrane interactions with nicastrin and presenilin.

γ-Secretase, a multisubunit transmembrane protease comprised of presenilin, nicastrin, presenilin enhancer 2, and anterior pharynx-defective one, participates in the regulated intramembrane proteolysis of Type I membrane proteins including the amyloid precursor protein (APP). Although Aph-1 is thought to play a structural role in the assembly of γ-secretase complex and several transmembrane domains (TMDs) of Aph-1 have been shown to be critical for its function, the importance of the other domains of Aph-1 remains elusive. We screened a series of Aph-1 mutants and focused on nine mutations distributed in six different TMDs of human APH-1aS, assessing their ability to complement mouse embryonic fibroblasts lacking Aph-1. We showed that mutations in TMD4 (G126) and TMD5 (H171) of Aph-1aS prevented the formation of the Nct/Aph-1 subcomplex. Importantly, although mutations in TMD3 (Q83/E84/R85) and TMD6 (H197) of APH-1aS did not affect Nct/Aph-1 subcomplex formation, both mutations prevented further association/endoproteolysis of PS1. We propose a model that identifies critical TMDs of Aph-1 for associations with Nct and PS for the stepwise assembly of γ-secretase components.