Hu Zhi-Wen, Ma Meng-Rong, Chen Yong-Xiang, Zhao Yu-Fen, Qiang Wei, Li Yan-Mei
From the Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorous Chemistry and Chemical Biology (Ministry of Education), Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Department of Chemistry, Binghamton University, State University of New York, Binghamton, New York 13902, and
J Biol Chem. 2017 Feb 17;292(7):2611-2623. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M116.757179. Epub 2016 Dec 28.
Polymorphism of amyloid-β (Aβ) fibrils, implying different fibril structures, may play important pathological roles in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Morphologies of Aβ fibrils were found to be sensitive to fibrillation conditions. Herein, the Ser-phosphorylated Aβ (pAβ), which is assumed to specially associate with symptomatic AD, is reported to modify the morphology, biophysical properties, cellular toxicity, and structures of Aβ fibrils. Under the same fibrillation conditions, pAβ favors the formation of fibrils (F), which are different from the wild-type Aβ fibrils (F). Both F and F fibrils show single predominant morphologies. Compared with F, F exhibits higher propagation efficiency and higher neuronal cell toxicity. The residue-specific structural differences between the F- and F-seeded Aβ fibrils were identified using magic angle spin NMR. Our results suggest a potential regulatory mechanism of phosphorylation on Aβ fibril formation in AD and imply that the post-translationally modified Aβ, especially the phosphorylated Aβ, may be an important target for the diagnosis or treatment of AD at specific stages.
淀粉样β蛋白(Aβ)纤维的多态性意味着不同的纤维结构,可能在阿尔茨海默病(AD)中发挥重要的病理作用。已发现Aβ纤维的形态对纤维化条件敏感。在此,据报道,假定与症状性AD特别相关的丝氨酸磷酸化Aβ(pAβ)会改变Aβ纤维的形态、生物物理特性、细胞毒性和结构。在相同的纤维化条件下,pAβ有利于形成与野生型Aβ纤维(F)不同的纤维(F)。F和F纤维均呈现单一的主要形态。与F相比,F表现出更高的传播效率和更高的神经元细胞毒性。使用魔角旋转核磁共振确定了F种子化和F种子化的Aβ纤维之间的残基特异性结构差异。我们的结果提示了AD中磷酸化对Aβ纤维形成的潜在调节机制,并暗示翻译后修饰的Aβ,尤其是磷酸化Aβ,可能是AD特定阶段诊断或治疗的重要靶点。