Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
J Am Chem Soc. 2012 Mar 21;134(11):5090-9. doi: 10.1021/ja209019s. Epub 2012 Mar 12.
α-Synuclein (AS) fibrils are the main protein component of Lewy bodies, the pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease and other related disorders. AS forms helices that bind phospholipid membranes with high affinity, but no atomic level data for AS aggregation in the presence of lipids is yet available. Here, we present direct evidence of a conversion from α-helical conformation to β-sheet fibrils in the presence of anionic phospholipid vesicles and direct conversion to β-sheet fibrils in their absence. We have trapped intermediate states throughout the fibril formation pathways to examine the structural changes using solid-state NMR spectroscopy and electron microscopy. The comparison between mature AS fibrils formed in aqueous buffer and those derived in the presence of anionic phospholipids demonstrates no major changes in the overall fibril fold. However, a site-specific comparison of these fibrillar states demonstrates major perturbations in the N-terminal domain with a partial disruption of the long β-strand located in the 40s and small perturbations in residues located in the "non-β amyloid component" (NAC) domain. Combining all these results, we propose a model for AS fibrillogenesis in the presence of phospholipid vesicles.
α-突触核蛋白(AS)纤维是路易体的主要蛋白成分,是帕金森病和其他相关疾病的病理标志。AS 形成与磷脂膜具有高亲和力的螺旋,但目前还没有关于脂质存在下 AS 聚集的原子水平数据。在这里,我们提供了在阴离子磷脂囊泡存在下从 α-螺旋构象到 β-片层纤维转化的直接证据,以及在不存在的情况下直接转化为 β-片层纤维的直接证据。我们在整个纤维形成途径中捕获了中间状态,使用固态 NMR 光谱和电子显微镜检查结构变化。将在水性缓冲液中形成的成熟 AS 纤维与在阴离子磷脂存在下衍生的纤维进行比较,证明在整体纤维折叠中没有重大变化。然而,对这些纤维状态的特异性比较表明,N 端结构域存在重大干扰,位于 40s 的长 β-链部分破坏,位于“非-β 淀粉样成分”(NAC)结构域的残基存在小干扰。综合所有这些结果,我们提出了在磷脂囊泡存在下 AS 纤维形成的模型。