Gu Lei, Tran Joyce, Jiang Lin, Guo Zhefeng
Department of Neurology, Brain Research Institute, Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Department of Neurology, Brain Research Institute, Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
J Struct Biol. 2016 Apr;194(1):61-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jsb.2016.01.013. Epub 2016 Jan 28.
Brain deposition of Aβ in the form of amyloid plaques is a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. There are two major species of Aβ in the brain: Aβ42 and Aβ40. Although Aβ40 is several-fold more abundant than Aβ42 in soluble form, Aβ42 is the major component of amyloid plaques. Structural knowledge of Aβ42 fibrils is important both for understanding the process of Aβ aggregation and for designing fibril-targeting drugs. Here we report site-specific structural information of Aβ42 fibrils at 22 residue positions based on electron paramagnetic resonance data. In combination with structure prediction program Rosetta, we modeled Aβ42 fibril structure at atomic resolution. Our Aβ42 fibril model consists of four parallel in-register β-sheets: βN (residues ∼7-13), β1 (residues ∼17-20), β2 (residues ∼32-36), and βC (residues 39-41). The region of β1-loop-β2 in Aβ42 fibrils adopts similar structure as that in Aβ40 fibrils. This is consistent with our cross seeding data that Aβ42 fibril seeds shortened the lag phase of Aβ40 fibrillization. On the other hand, Aβ42 fibrils contain a C-terminal β-arc-β motif with a special turn, termed "arc", at residues 37-38, which is absent in Aβ40 fibrils. Our results can explain both the higher aggregation propensity of Aβ42 and the importance of Aβ42 to Aβ40 ratio in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.
以淀粉样斑块形式存在的Aβ在大脑中的沉积是阿尔茨海默病的病理标志。大脑中存在两种主要的Aβ种类:Aβ42和Aβ40。尽管Aβ40以可溶形式存在时比Aβ42丰富几倍,但Aβ42是淀粉样斑块的主要成分。Aβ42原纤维的结构知识对于理解Aβ聚集过程以及设计靶向原纤维的药物都很重要。在此,我们基于电子顺磁共振数据报告了Aβ42原纤维在22个残基位置的位点特异性结构信息。结合结构预测程序Rosetta,我们对Aβ42原纤维结构进行了原子分辨率建模。我们的Aβ42原纤维模型由四个平行的同序β-折叠组成:βN(残基7-13)、β1(残基17-20)、β2(残基~32-36)和βC(残基39-41)。Aβ42原纤维中β1-环-β2区域的结构与Aβ40原纤维中的相似。这与我们的交叉接种数据一致,即Aβ42原纤维种子缩短了Aβ40纤维化的延迟期。另一方面,Aβ42原纤维在残基37-38处含有一个C端β-弧-β基序,带有一个特殊的转角,称为“弧”,而Aβ40原纤维中不存在该结构。我们的结果可以解释Aβ42较高的聚集倾向以及Aβ42与Aβ40的比例在阿尔茨海默病发病机制中的重要性。