Bagherpoor Helabad Mahdi, Matlahov Irina, Kumar Raj, Daldrop Jan O, Jain Greeshma, Weingarth Markus, van der Wel Patrick C A, Miettinen Markus S
Department of Theory and Bio-Systems, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, 14424 Potsdam, Germany.
Institute for Drug Discovery, Leipzig University Medical Center, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
bioRxiv. 2024 Sep 15:2023.07.21.549993. doi: 10.1101/2023.07.21.549993.
Neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease (HD) is accompanied by the aggregation of fragments of the mutant huntingtin protein, a biomarker of disease progression. A particular pathogenic role has been attributed to the aggregation-prone huntingtin exon 1 (HTTex1), generated by aberrant splicing or proteolysis, and containing the expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) segment. Unlike amyloid fibrils from Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, the atomic-level structure of HTTex1 fibrils has remained unknown, limiting diagnostic and treatment efforts. We present and analyze the structure of fibrils formed by polyQ peptides and polyQ-expanded HTTex1 in vitro. Atomic-resolution perspectives are enabled by an integrative analysis and unrestrained all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations incorporating experimental data from electron microscopy (EM), solid-state NMR, and other techniques. Alongside the use of prior data, we report new magic angle spinning NMR studies of glutamine residues of the polyQ fibril core and surface, distinguished via hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX). Our study provides a new understanding of the structure of the core as well as surface of aggregated HTTex1, including the fuzzy coat and polyQ-water interface. The obtained data are discussed in context of their implications for understanding the detection of such aggregates (diagnostics) as well as known biological properties of the fibrils.
亨廷顿舞蹈症(HD)中的神经退行性变伴随着突变型亨廷顿蛋白片段的聚集,这是疾病进展的一个生物标志物。异常剪接或蛋白水解产生的、含有扩展型聚谷氨酰胺(polyQ)片段且易于聚集的亨廷顿蛋白外显子1(HTTex1)被认为具有特殊的致病作用。与帕金森病和阿尔茨海默病的淀粉样纤维不同,HTTex1纤维的原子级结构仍然未知,这限制了诊断和治疗工作。我们展示并分析了聚Q肽和聚Q扩展的HTTex1在体外形成的纤维结构。通过整合分析和无约束全原子分子动力学(MD)模拟,并结合来自电子显微镜(EM)、固态核磁共振(NMR)和其他技术的实验数据,实现了原子分辨率的视角。除了使用先前的数据,我们还报告了对聚Q纤维核心和表面谷氨酰胺残基的新的魔角旋转核磁共振研究,通过氢-氘交换(HDX)进行区分。我们的研究为聚集的HTTex1的核心以及表面结构,包括模糊涂层和聚Q-水界面,提供了新的理解。所获得的数据将结合其对理解此类聚集体的检测(诊断)以及纤维已知生物学特性的意义进行讨论。