The amyloid stretch hypothesis: recruiting proteins toward the dark side

Stabilization of α-Helical Folded Structures Retards Hydrophobic Zipping and Fibrillation of Bovine Insulin: A Key Signature from Raman Spectroscopic Analysis

Insulin is an α-helical-rich globular protein that is well-stabilized via several noncovalent forces including the inter-residue/intersubunit hydrophobic interactions. However, similar noncovalent forces, although of different degrees and orientations, effectuate many proteins to assemble and adapt thermodynamically stable β-sheet-rich fibrillar aggregates, causing a severe impact on their native structure and function. This fibrillation of proteins involves a key event, which is the zipping of hydrophobic amyloidogenic regions that are exposed intrinsically or become bared in the folded proteins under harsh conditions. This study has revealed that Coomassie Brilliant Blue G-250 (CBBG) can inhibit the essential zipping processes and stabilize the α-helical structure of bovine insulin (BI), resulting in a significant delay in the fibril formation. The interaction of CBBG with BI was found to be a thermodynamically favorable event, with it being an enthalpy-driven process (ΔH0 -88.04 kcal/mol), with the change in Gibb's free energy (ΔG0) observed to be ∼ -6.98 kcal/mol. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering measurements showed a characteristic α-helical signal of the protein at 1649 cm-1 in the presence of CBBG, suggesting the enhanced thermal stability of the hormone. Computational analysis further revealed that CBBG binds to both chains A and B of bovine insulin and boosts the folding stability in the monomeric state, causing a significant reduction in its structural fluctuation. The sulfonate moieties of CBBG showed significant intermolecular interactions with the B chain of N-terminal segments. Specifically, one sulfonate group formed multiple hydrogen bonds with both the backbone amide group and the terminal amine. Also, the N-terminal phenylalanine residue of BI (F1B) was found to have a significant contribution to the hydrophobic π-π stacking interactions with the CBBG aromatic phenyl ring.

Landscapes of missense variant impact for human superoxide dismutase 1

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive motor neuron disease for which important subtypes are caused by variation in the Superoxide Dismutase 1 gene SOD1. Diagnosis based on SOD1 sequencing can not only be definitive but also indicate specific therapies available for SOD1-associated ALS (SOD1-ALS). Unfortunately, SOD1-ALS diagnosis is limited by the fact that a substantial fraction (currently 26%) of ClinVar SOD1 missense variants are classified as "variants of uncertain significance" (VUS). Although functional assays can provide strong evidence for clinical variant interpretation, SOD1 assay validation is challenging, given the current incomplete and controversial understanding of SOD1-ALS disease mechanism. Using saturation mutagenesis and multiplexed cell-based assays, we measured the functional impact of over two thousand SOD1 amino acid substitutions on both enzymatic function and protein abundance. The resulting 'missense variant effect maps' not only reflect prior biochemical knowledge of SOD1 but also provide sequence-structure-function insights. Importantly, our variant abundance assay can discriminate pathogenic missense variation and provides new evidence for 41% of missense variants that had been previously reported as VUS, offering the potential to identify additional patients who would benefit from therapy approved for SOD1-ALS.

Chiral nanosystem and chiral supraparticles for drug delivery: an expert opinion

INTRODUCTION

Chiral nanocarriers enhance therapeutic efficacy by improving in vivo stability and cellular uptake. Chemical functionalization reduces cytotoxicity, resulting in favorable biocompatibility. Nanoparticles self-assemble into supraparticles, enhancing drug delivery through improved retention and drug loading.

AREA COVERED

This review covers chiral nanostructures and chiral supraparticles, and their applications in drug delivery and various healthcare applications.

EXPERT OPINION

The chirality of biomaterials is crucial for advancing nanomedicine. Chiral nanosystem enhance drug delivery by interacting selectively with biological molecules, improving their specificity and efficacy. This reduces off-target effects and improves therapeutic outcomes. Research has focused on cellular uptake and elimination to ensure safety, and chiral nanomaterials also show promise in optical sensing and gene editing. Their biocompatibility and ability to self-assemble into supraparticles may make them ideal for drug delivery systems.

Developing machine-learning-based amyloidogenicity predictors with Cross-Beta DB

INTRODUCTION

The importance of protein amyloidogenesis, associated with various diseases and functional roles, has driven the creation of computational predictors of amyloidogenicity. The accuracy of these predictors, particularly those utilizing artificial intelligence technologies, heavily depends on the quality of the data.

METHODS

We built Cross-Beta DB, a database containing high-quality data on known cross-β amyloids formed under natural conditions. We used it to train and benchmark several machine-learning (ML) algorithms to predict amyloid-forming potential of proteins.

RESULTS

We developed the Cross-Beta predictor using an Extra trees ML algorithm, which outperforms other amyloid predictors with the highest F1 score (0.852) and accuracy (0.844) compared to existing methods.

DISCUSSION

The development of the Cross-Beta DB database and a new ML-based Cross-Beta predictor may enable the creation of personalized risk profiles for neurodegenerative diseases and other amyloidoses-especially as genome sequencing becomes more affordable.

HIGHLIGHTS

Accuracy of ML-based predictors depends on the quality of training data We built Cross-Beta DB, a database of high-quality data on naturally-occurring amyloids Using this data, we developed an amyloid predictor that outperforms other predictors This computational tool enables the creation of risk profiles for neurodegenerative diseases.

Solvent induced amyloid polymorphism and the uncovering of the elusive class 3 amyloid topology

Aggregation-prone-motifs (APRs) of proteins are short segments, which - as isolated peptides - form diverse amyloid-like crystals. We introduce two APRs - designed variants of the incretin mimetic Exendin-4 - that both display crystal-phase polymorphism. Crystallographic and spectroscopic analysis revealed that a single amino-acid substitution can greatly reduce topological variability: while LYIQWL can form both parallel and anti-parallel β-sheets, LYIQNL selects only the former. We also found that the parallel/anti-parallel switch of LYIQWL can be induced by simply changing the crystallization temperature. One crystal form of LYIQNL was found to belong to the class 3 topology, an arrangement previously not encountered among proteinogenic systems. We also show that subtle environmental changes lead to crystalline assemblies with different topologies, but similar interfaces. Spectroscopic measurements showed that polymorphism is already apparent in the solution state. Our results suggest that the temperature-, sequence- and environmental sensitivity of physiological amyloids is reflected in assemblies of the APR segments, which, complete with the new class 3 crystal form, effectively sample all the originally proposed basic topologies of amyloid-like aggregates.

Polymorphic amyloid nanostructures of hormone peptides involved in glucose homeostasis display reversible amyloid formation

A large group of hormones are stored as amyloid fibrils in acidic secretion vesicles before they are released into the bloodstream and readopt their functional state. Here, we identify an evolutionarily conserved hexapeptide sequence as the major aggregation-prone region (APR) of gastrointestinal peptides of the glucagon family: xFxxWL. We determine nine polymorphic crystal structures of the APR segments of glucagon-like peptides 1 and 2, and exendin and its derivatives. We follow amyloid formation by CD, FTIR, ThT assays, and AFM. We propose that the pH-dependent changes of the protonation states of glutamate/aspartate residues of APRs initiate switching between the amyloid and the folded, monomeric forms of the hormones. We find that pH sensitivity diminishes in the absence of acidic gatekeepers and amyloid formation progresses over a broad pH range. Our results highlight the dual role of short aggregation core motifs in reversible amyloid formation and receptor binding.

SNPeffect 5.0: large-scale structural phenotyping of protein coding variants extracted from next-generation sequencing data using AlphaFold models

BACKGROUND

Next-generation sequencing technologies yield large numbers of genetic alterations, of which a subset are missense variants that alter an amino acid in the protein product. These variants can have a potentially destabilizing effect leading to an increased risk of misfolding and aggregation. Multiple software tools exist to predict the effect of single-nucleotide variants on proteins, however, a pipeline integrating these tools while starting from an NGS data output list of variants is lacking.

RESULTS

The previous version SNPeffect 4.0 (De Baets in Nucleic Acids Res 40(D1):D935-D939, 2011) provided an online database containing pre-calculated variant effects and low-throughput custom variant analysis. Here, we built an automated and parallelized pipeline that analyzes the impact of missense variants on the aggregation propensity and structural stability of proteins starting from the Variant Call Format as input. The pipeline incorporates the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database to achieve high coverage for structural stability analyses using the FoldX force field. The effect on aggregation-propensity is analyzed using the established predictors TANGO and WALTZ. The pipeline focuses solely on the human proteome and can be used to analyze proteome stability/damage in a given sample based on sequencing results.

CONCLUSION

We provide a bioinformatics pipeline that allows structural phenotyping from sequencing data using established stability and aggregation predictors including FoldX, TANGO, and WALTZ; and structural proteome coverage provided by the AlphaFold database. The pipeline and installation guide are freely available for academic users on https://github.com/vibbits/snpeffect and requires a computer cluster.

Exploiting the intrinsic misfolding propensity of the KRAS oncoprotein

Mutant KRAS is a major driver of oncogenesis in a multitude of cancers but remains a challenging target for classical small molecule drugs, motivating the exploration of alternative approaches. Here, we show that aggregation-prone regions (APRs) in the primary sequence of the oncoprotein constitute intrinsic vulnerabilities that can be exploited to misfold KRAS into protein aggregates. Conveniently, this propensity that is present in wild-type KRAS is increased in the common oncogenic mutations at positions 12 and 13. We show that synthetic peptides (Pept-ins™) derived from two distinct KRAS APRs could induce the misfolding and subsequent loss of function of oncogenic KRAS, both of recombinantly produced protein in solution, during cell-free translation and in cancer cells. The Pept-ins exerted antiproliferative activity against a range of mutant KRAS cell lines and abrogated tumor growth in a syngeneic lung adenocarcinoma mouse model driven by mutant KRAS G12V. These findings provide proof-of-concept that the intrinsic misfolding propensity of the KRAS oncoprotein can be exploited to cause its functional inactivation.

Chiral-engineered supraparticles: Emerging tools for drug delivery

The handedness of chiral-engineered supraparticles (CE-SPs) influences their interactions with cells and proteins, as evidenced by the increased penetration of breast, cervical, and myeloma cell membranes by d-chirality-coordinated SPs. Quartz crystal dissipation and isothermal titration calorimetry have been used to investigate such chiral-specific interactions. d-SPs are more thermodynamically stable compared with l-SPs in terms of their adhesion. Proteases and other endogenous proteins can be shielded by the opposite chirality of d-SPs, resulting in longer half-lives. Incorporating nanosystems with d-chirality increases uptake by cancer cells and prolongs in vivo stability, demonstrating the importance of chirality in biomaterials. Thus, as we discuss here, chiral nanosystems could enhance drug delivery systems, tumor markers, and biosensors, among other biomaterial-based technologies, by allowing for better control over their features.

Forced amyloidogenic cooperativity of structurally incompatible peptide segments: Fibrillization behavior of highly aggregation-prone A-chain fragment of insulin coupled to all-L, and alternating L/D octaglutamates

Aggregation of proteins into amyloid fibrils is driven by interactions between relatively small amyloidogenic segments. The interplay between aggregation-prone and aggregation-resistant fragments within a single polypeptide chain remains obscure. Here, we examine fibrillization behavior of two chimeric peptides, ACC_1-13E₈ and ACC_1-13E_8(L/D), in which the highly amyloidogenic fragment of insulin (ACC_1-13) is extended by an octaglutamate segment composed of all-L (E₈), or alternating L/D residues (E_8(L/D)). As separate entities, ACC_1-13 readily forms fibrils with the infrared features of parallel β-sheet while E₈ forms antiparallel β-sheets with the distinct infrared characteristics. This contrasts with the profoundly aggregation-resistant E_8(L/D), although L/D patterns have been hypothesized as compatible with aggregated α-sheets. ACC_1-13E₈ and ACC_1-13E_8(L/D) are found to be equally prone to fibrillization at low pH, or in the presence of Ca²⁺ ions. Fibrillar states of both ACC_1-13E₈ and ACC_1-13E_8(L/D) reveal the infrared features of highly ordered parallel β-sheet without evidence of β₂-aggregates (ACC_1-13E₈) or α-sheets (ACC_1-13E_8(L/D)). Hence, the preferred structural pattern of ACC_1-13 overrides the tendency of E₈ to form antiparallel β-sheets and enforces the fibrillar order in E_8(L/D). We demonstrate how the powerful amyloid stretch determines the overall amyloid structure forcing non-amyloidogenic fragments to participate in its native amyloid pattern.

A3D 2.0 Update for the Prediction and Optimization of Protein Solubility

Protein aggregation propensity is a property imprinted in protein sequences and structures, being associated with the onset of human diseases and limiting the implementation of protein-based biotherapies. Computational approaches stand as cost-effective alternatives for reducing protein aggregation and increasing protein solubility. AGGRESCAN 3D (A3D) is a structure-based predictor of aggregation that takes into account the conformational context of a protein, aiming to identify aggregation-prone regions exposed in protein surfaces. Here we inspect the updated 2.0 version of the algorithm, which extends the application of A3D to previously inaccessible proteins and incorporates new modules to assist protein redesign. Among these features, the new server includes stability calculations and the possibility to optimize protein solubility using an experimentally validated computational pipeline. Finally, we employ defined examples to navigate the A3D RESTful service, a routine to handle extensive protein collections. Altogether, this chapter is conceived to train and assist A3D non-experts in the study of aggregation-prone regions and protein solubility redesign.

Transient disorder along pathways to amyloid

High-resolution structures of amyloid fibrils formed from normally-folded proteins have revealed non-native conformations of the polypeptide chains. Attaining these conformations apparently requires transition from the native state via a highly disordered conformation, in contrast to earlier models that posited a role for assembly of partially folded proteins. Modifications or interactions that extend the lifetime or constrain the conformations of these disordered states could act to enhance or suppress amyloid formation. Understanding how the properties of both the folded and transiently disordered structural ensembles influence the process of amyloid formation is a substantial challenge, but research into the properties of intrinsically disordered proteins will deliver important insights.

L. major apo-acyl carrier protein forms ordered aggregates due to an exposed phenylalanine, while phosphopantetheine inhibits aggregation in the holo-form

L. major acyl carrier protein (ACP) is a mitochondrial protein, involved in fatty acid biosynthesis. The protein is expressed as an apo-protein, and post-translationally modified at Ser 37 by a 4'-Phosphopantetheinyl transferase. Crystal structure of the apo-form of the protein at pH 5.5 suggests a four helix bundle fold, typical of ACP's. However, upon lowering the pH to 5.0, it undergoes a conformational transition from α-helix to β-sheet, and displays amyloid like properties. When left for a few days at room temperature at this pH, the protein forms fibrils, visible under Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Using an approach combining NMR, biophysical techniques, and mutagenesis, we have identified a Phe residue present on helix II of ACP, liable for this change. Phosphopantetheinylation of LmACP, or mutation of Phe 45 to the corresponding residue in E. coli ACP (methionine), slows down the conformational change. Conversely, substitution of methionine 44 of E. coli ACP with a phenylalanine, causes enhanced ThT binding. Thus, we demonstrate the unique property of an exposed Phe in inducing, and phophopantetheine in inhibiting amyloidogenesis. Taken together, our study adds L. major acyl carrier protein to the list of ACPs that act as pH sensors.

Mechanisms and therapeutic potential of interactions between human amyloids and viruses

The aggregation of specific proteins and their amyloid deposition in affected tissue in disease has been studied for decades assuming a sole pathogenic role of amyloids. It is now clear that amyloids can also encode important cellular functions, one of which involves the interaction potential of amyloids with microbial pathogens, including viruses. Human expressed amyloids have been shown to act both as innate restriction molecules against viruses as well as promoting agents for viral infectivity. The underlying molecular driving forces of such amyloid-virus interactions are not completely understood. Starting from the well-described molecular mechanisms underlying amyloid formation, we here summarize three non-mutually exclusive hypotheses that have been proposed to drive amyloid-virus interactions. Viruses can indirectly drive amyloid depositions by affecting upstream molecular pathways or induce amyloid formation by a direct interaction with the viral surface or specific viral proteins. Finally, we highlight the potential of therapeutic interventions using the sequence specificity of amyloid interactions to drive viral interference.

Protein aggregation: in silico algorithms and applications

Protein aggregation is a topic of immense interest to the scientific community due to its role in several neurodegenerative diseases/disorders and industrial importance. Several in silico techniques, tools, and algorithms have been developed to predict aggregation in proteins and understand the aggregation mechanisms. This review attempts to provide an essence of the vast developments in in silico approaches, resources available, and future perspectives. It reviews aggregation-related databases, mechanistic models (aggregation-prone region and aggregation propensity prediction), kinetic models (aggregation rate prediction), and molecular dynamics studies related to aggregation. With a multitude of prediction models related to aggregation already available to the scientific community, the field of protein aggregation is rapidly maturing to tackle new applications.

Extremely Amyloidogenic Single-Chain Analogues of Insulin's H-Fragment: Structural Adaptability of an Amyloid Stretch

Relatively short amino acid sequences often play a pivotal role in triggering protein aggregation leading to the formation of amyloid fibrils. In the case of insulin, various regions of A- and B-chains have been implicated as the most relevant to the protein's amyloidogenicity. Here, we focus on the highly amyloidogenic H-fragment of insulin comprising the disulfide-bonded N-terminal parts of both chains. Analysis of the aggregation behavior of single-chain peptide derivatives of the H-fragment suggests that the A-chain's part initiates the aggregation process while the disulfide-tethered B-chain reluctantly adapts to amyloid structure. Merging of both A- and B-parts into single-chain continuous peptides (A-B and B-A) results in extreme amyloidogenicity exceeding that of the double-chain H-fragment as reflected by almost instantaneous de novo fibrillization. Amyloid fibrils of A-B and B-A present distinct morphological and infrared traits and do not cross-seed insulin. Our study suggests that the N-terminal part of insulin's A-chain containing the intact Cys6-Cys11 intrachain disulfide bond may constitute insulin's major amyloid stretch which, through its bent conformation, enforces a parallel in-register alignment of β-strands. Comparison of the self-association behavior of H, A-B, and B-A peptides suggests that A-chain's N-terminal amyloid stretch is very versatile and adaptive to various structural contexts.

Targeting an Interaction Between Two Disordered Domains by Using a Designed Peptide

Intrinsically disordered regions in proteins (IDRs) mediate many disease-related protein-protein interactions. However, the unfolded character and continuous conformational changes of IDRs make them difficult to target for therapeutic purposes. Here, we show that a designed peptide based on the disordered p53 linker domain can be used to target a partner IDR from the anti-apoptotic iASPP protein, promoting apoptosis of cancer cells. The p53 linker forms a hairpin-like structure with its two termini in close proximity. We designed a peptide derived from the disordered termini without the hairpin, designated as p53 LinkTer. The LinkTer peptide binds the disordered RT loop of iASPP with the same affinity as the parent p53 linker peptide, and inhibits the p53-iASPP interaction in vitro. The LinkTer peptide shows increased stability to proteolysis, penetrates cancer cells, causes nuclei shrinkage, and compromises the viability of cells. We conclude that a designed peptide comprising only the IDR from a peptide sequence can serve as an improved inhibitor since it binds its target protein without the need for pre-folding, paving the way for therapeutic targeting of IDRs.

Understanding Mesangial Pathobiology in AL-Amyloidosis and Monoclonal Ig Light Chain Deposition Disease

Patients with plasma cell dyscrasias produce free abnormal monoclonal Ig light chains that circulate in the blood stream. Some of them, termed glomerulopathic light chains, interact with the mesangial cells and trigger, in a manner dependent of their structural and physicochemical properties, a sequence of pathological events that results in either light chain–derived (AL) amyloidosis (AL-Am) or light chain deposition disease (LCDD). The mesangial cells play a key role in the pathogenesis of both diseases. The interaction with the pathogenic light chain elicits specific cellular processes, which include apoptosis, phenotype transformation, and secretion of extracellular matrix components and metalloproteinases. Monoclonal light chains associated with AL-Am but not those producing LCDD are avidly endocytosed by mesangial cells and delivered to the mature lysosomal compartment where amyloid fibrils are formed. Light chains from patients with LCDD exert their pathogenic signaling effect at the cell surface of mesangial cells. These events are generic mesangial responses to a variety of adverse stimuli, and they are similar to those characterizing other more frequent glomerulopathies responsible for many cases of end-stage renal disease. The pathophysiologic events that have been elucidated allow to propose future therapeutic approaches aimed at preventing, stopping, ameliorating, or reversing the adverse effects resulting from the interactions between glomerulopathic light chains and mesangium.

Advances in the Prediction of Protein Aggregation Propensity

Background:

Protein aggregation into β-sheet-enriched insoluble assemblies is being found to be associated with an increasing number of debilitating human pathologies, such as Alzheimer’s disease or type 2 diabetes, but also with premature aging. Furthermore, protein aggregation represents a major bottleneck in the production and marketing of proteinbased therapeutics. Thus, the development of methods to accurately forecast the aggregation propensity of a certain protein is of much value.

Methods/Results:

A myriad of in vitro and in vivo aggregation studies have shown that the aggregation propensity of a certain polypeptide sequence is highly dependent on its intrinsic properties and, in most cases, driven by specific short regions of high aggregation propensity. These observations have fostered the development of a first generation of algorithms aimed to predict protein aggregation propensities from the protein sequence. A second generation of programs able to map protein aggregation on protein structures is emerging. Herein, we review the most representative online accessible predictive tools, emphasizing their main distinctive features and the range of applications.

Conclusion:

In this review, we describe representative biocomputational approaches to evaluate the aggregation properties of protein sequences and structures, while illustrating how they can become very useful tools to target protein aggregation in biomedicine and biotechnology.

The Y682ENPTY687 motif of APP: Progress and insights toward a targeted therapy for Alzheimer's disease patients

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder for which no curative treatments, disease modifying strategies or effective symptomatic therapies exist. Current pharmacologic treatments for AD can only decelerate the progression of the disease for a short time, often at the cost of severe side effects. Therefore, there is an urgent need for biomarkers able to diagnose AD at its earliest stages, to conclusively track disease progression, and to accelerate the clinical development of innovative therapies. Scientific research and economic efforts for the development of pharmacotherapies have recently homed in on the hypothesis that neurotoxic β-amyloid (Aβ) peptides in their oligomeric or fibrillary forms are primarily responsible for the cognitive impairment and neuronal death seen in AD. As such, modern pharmacologic approaches are largely based on reducing production by inhibiting β and γ secretase cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) or on dissolving existing cerebral Aβ plaques or to favor Aβ clearance from the brain. The following short review aims to persuade the reader of the idea that APP plays a much larger role in AD pathogenesis. APP plays a greater role in AD pathogenesis than its role as the precursor for Aβ peptides: both the abnormal cleavage of APP leading to Aβ peptide accumulation and the disruption of APP physiological functions contribute to AD pathogenesis. We summarize our recent results on the role played by the C-terminal APP motif -the Y₆₈₂ENPTY₆₈ motif- in APP function and dysfunction, and we provide insights into targeting the Tyr₆₈₂ residue of APP as putative novel strategy in AD.

The Gut and Parkinson's Disease-A Bidirectional Pathway

Humans evolved a symbiotic relationship with their gut microbiome, a complex microbial community composed of bacteria, archaea, protists, and viruses, including bacteriophages. The enteric nervous system (ENS) is a gateway for the bidirectional communication between the brain and the gut, mostly through the vagus nerve (VN). Environmental exposure plays a pivotal role in both the composition and functionality of the gut microbiome and may contribute to susceptibility to neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). The neuropathological hallmark of PD is the widespread appearance of alpha-synuclein aggregates in both the central and peripheral nervous systems, including the ENS. Many studies suggest that gut toxins can induce the formation of α-syn aggregates in the ENS, which may then be transmitted in a prion-like manner to the CNS through the VN. PD is strongly associated with aging and its negative effects on homeostatic mechanisms protecting from inflammation, oxidative stress, and protein malfunction. In this mini-review, we revisit some landmark discoveries in the field of Parkinson's research and focus on the gut-brain axis. In the process, we highlight evidence showing gut-associated dysbiosis and related microbial-derived components as important players and risk factors for PD. Therefore, the gut microbiome emerges as a potential target for protective measures aiming to prevent PD onset.

Hidden Aggregation Hot-Spots on Human Apolipoprotein E: A Structural Study

Human apolipoprotein E (apoE) is a major component of lipoprotein particles, and under physiological conditions, is involved in plasma cholesterol transport. Human apolipoprotein E found in three isoforms (E2; E3; E4) is a member of a family of apolipoproteins that under pathological conditions are detected in extracellular amyloid depositions in several amyloidoses. Interestingly, the lipid-free apoE form has been shown to be co-localized with the amyloidogenic Aβ peptide in amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease, whereas in particular, the apoE4 isoform is a crucial risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Evidence at the experimental level proves that apoE self-assembles into amyloid fibrilsin vitro, although the misfolding mechanism has not been clarified yet. Here, we explored the mechanistic insights of apoE misfolding by testing short apoE stretches predicted as amyloidogenic determinants by AMYLPRED, and we computationally investigated the dynamics of apoE and an apoE–Αβ complex. Our in vitro biophysical results prove that apoE peptide–analogues may act as the driving force needed to trigger apoE aggregation and are supported by the computational apoE outcome. Additional computational work concerning the apoE–Αβ complex also designates apoE amyloidogenic regions as important binding sites for oligomeric Αβ; taking an important step forward in the field of Alzheimer’s anti-aggregation drug development.

The CDR1 and Other Regions of Immunoglobulin Light Chains are Hot Spots for Amyloid Aggregation

Immunoglobulin light chain-derived (AL) amyloidosis is a debilitating disease without known cure. Almost nothing is known about the structural factors driving the amyloidogenesis of the light chains. This study aimed to identify the fibrillogenic hotspots of the model protein 6aJL2 and in pursuing this goal, two complementary approaches were applied. One of them was based on several web-based computational tools optimized to predict fibrillogenic/aggregation-prone sequences based on different structural and biophysical properties of the polypeptide chain. Then, the predictions were confirmed with an ad-hoc synthetic peptide library. In the second approach, 6aJL2 protein was proteolyzed with trypsin, and the products incubated in aggregation-promoting conditions. Then, the aggregation-prone fragments were identified by combining standard proteomic methods, and the results validated with a set of synthetic peptides with the sequence of the tryptic fragments. Both strategies coincided to identify a fibrillogenic hotspot located at the CDR1 and β-strand C of the protein, which was confirmed by scanning proline mutagenesis analysis. However, only the proteolysis-based strategy revealed additional fibrillogenic hotspots in two other regions of the protein. It was shown that a fibrillogenic hotspot associated to the CDR1 is also encoded by several κ and λ germline variable domain gene segments. Some parts of this study have been included in the chapter “The Structural Determinants of the Immunoglobulin Light Chain Amyloid Aggregation”, published in Physical Biology of Proteins and Peptides, Springer 2015 (ISBN 978-3-319-21687-4).

Tailoring the properties of (catalytically)-active inclusion bodies

Background

Immobilization is an appropriate tool to ease the handling and recycling of enzymes in biocatalytic processes and to increase their stability. Most of the established immobilization methods require case-to-case optimization, which is laborious and time-consuming. Often, (chromatographic) enzyme purification is required and stable immobilization usually includes additional cross-linking or adsorption steps. We have previously shown in a few case studies that the molecular biological fusion of an aggregation-inducing tag to a target protein induces the intracellular formation of protein aggregates, so called inclusion bodies (IBs), which to a certain degree retain their (catalytic) function. This enables the combination of protein production and immobilization in one step. Hence, those biologically-produced immobilizates were named catalytically-active inclusion bodies (CatIBs) or, in case of proteins without catalytic activity, functional IBs (FIBs). While this strategy has been proven successful, the efficiency, the potential for optimization and important CatIB/FIB properties like yield, activity and morphology have not been investigated systematically.

Results

We here evaluated a CatIB/FIB toolbox of different enzymes and proteins. Different optimization strategies, like linker deletion, C- versus N-terminal fusion and the fusion of alternative aggregation-inducing tags were evaluated. The obtained CatIBs/FIBs varied with respect to formation efficiency, yield, composition and residual activity, which could be correlated to differences in their morphology; as revealed by (electron) microscopy. Last but not least, we demonstrate that the CatIB/FIB formation efficiency appears to be correlated to the solvent-accessible hydrophobic surface area of the target protein, providing a structure-based rationale for our strategy and opening up the possibility to predict its efficiency for any given target protein.

Conclusion

We here provide evidence for the general applicability, predictability and flexibility of the CatIB/FIB immobilization strategy, highlighting the application potential of CatIB-based enzyme immobilizates for synthetic chemistry, biocatalysis and industry.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12934-019-1081-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Biomolecular Assemblies: Moving from Observation to Predictive Design

Biomolecular assembly is a key driving force in nearly all life processes, providing structure, information storage, and communication within cells and at the whole organism level. These assembly processes rely on precise interactions between functional groups on nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates, and small molecules, and can be fine-tuned to span a range of time, length, and complexity scales. Recognizing the power of these motifs, researchers have sought to emulate and engineer biomolecular assemblies in the laboratory, with goals ranging from modulating cellular function to the creation of new polymeric materials. In most cases, engineering efforts are inspired or informed by understanding the structure and properties of naturally occurring assemblies, which has in turn fueled the development of predictive models that enable computational design of novel assemblies. This Review will focus on selected examples of protein assemblies, highlighting the story arc from initial discovery of an assembly, through initial engineering attempts, toward the ultimate goal of predictive design. The aim of this Review is to highlight areas where significant progress has been made, as well as to outline remaining challenges, as solving these challenges will be the key that unlocks the full power of biomolecules for advances in technology and medicine.

Hexapeptide Tandem Repeats Dictate the Formation of Silkmoth Chorion, a Natural Protective Amyloid

Silkmoth chorion is a fibrous structure composed mainly of two major protein classes, families A and B. Both families of silkmoth chorion proteins present a highly conserved, in sequence and in length, central domain, consisting of Gly-rich tandem hexapeptide repetitive segments, flanked by two more variable N-terminal and C-terminal arms. Primary studies identified silkmoth chorion as a functional protective amyloid by unveiling the amyloidogenic properties of the central domain of both protein families. In this work, we attempt to detect the principal source of amyloidogenicity of the central domain by focusing on the role of the tandem hexapeptide sequence repeats. Concurrently, we discuss a possible mechanism for the self-assembly of class A protofilaments, suggesting that the aggregation-prone hexapeptide building blocks may fold into a triangle-shaped β-helical structure.

Exploring Proteins Containing Amyloidogenic Regions in the Proteomes of Bacteria of the Order Rhizobiales

Amyloids are protein fibrils with a highly ordered spatial structure called cross-β. To date, amyloids were shown to be implicated in a wide range of biological processes, both pathogenic and functional. In bacteria, functional amyloids are involved in forming biofilms, storing toxins, overcoming the surface tension, and other functions. Rhizobiales represent an economically important group of Alphaproteobacteria, various species of which are not only capable of fixing nitrogen in the symbiosis with leguminous plants but also act as the causative agents of infectious diseases in animals and plants. Here, we implemented bioinformatic screening for potentially amyloidogenic proteins in the proteomes of more than 80 species belonging to the order Rhizobiales. Using SARP (Sequence Analysis based on the Ranking of Probabilities) and Waltz bioinformatic algorithms, we identified the biological processes, where potentially amyloidogenic proteins are overrepresented. We detected protein domains and regions associated with amyloidogenic sequences in the proteomes of various Rhizobiales species. We demonstrated that amyloidogenic regions tend to occur in the membrane or extracellular proteins, many of which are involved in pathogenesis-related processes, including adhesion, assembly of flagellum, and transport of siderophores and lipopolysaccharides, and contain domains typical of the virulence factors (hemolysin, RTX, YadA, LptD); some of them (rhizobiocins, LptD) are also related to symbiosis.

Protein Disaggregation in Multicellular Organisms

Protein aggregates are formed in cells with profoundly perturbed proteostasis, where the generation of misfolded proteins exceeds the cellular refolding and degradative capacity. They are a hallmark of protein conformational disorders and aged and/or environmentally stressed cells. Protein aggregation is a reversible process in vivo, which counteracts proteotoxicities derived from aggregate persistence, but the chaperone machineries involved in protein disaggregation in Metazoa were uncovered only recently. Here we highlight recent advances in the mechanistic understanding of the major protein disaggregation machinery mediated by the Hsp70 chaperone system and discuss emerging alternative disaggregation activities in multicellular organisms.

VLITL is a major cross-β-sheet signal for fibrinogen Aα-chain frameshift variants

The first case of hereditary fibrinogen Aα-chain amyloidosis was recognized >20 years ago, but disease mechanisms still remain unknown. Here we report detailed clinical and proteomics studies of a French kindred with a novel amyloidogenic fibrinogen Aα-chain frameshift variant, Phe521Leufs, causing a severe familial form of renal amyloidosis. Next, we focused our investigations to elucidate the molecular basis that render this Aα-chain variant amyloidogenic. We show that a 49-mer peptide derived from the C-terminal part of the Phe521Leufs chain is deposited as fibrils in the patient's kidneys, establishing that only a small portion of Phe521Leufs directly contributes to amyloid formation in vivo. In silico analysis indicated that this 49-mer Aα-chain peptide contained a motif (VLITL), with a high intrinsic propensity for β-aggregation at residues 44 to 48 of human renal fibrils. To experimentally verify the amyloid propensity of VLITL, we generated synthetic Phe521Leufs-derived peptides and compared their capacity for fibril formation in vitro with that of their VLITL-deleted counterparts. We show that VLITL forms typical amyloid fibrils in vitro and is a major signal for cross-β-sheet self-association of the 49-mer Phe521Leufs peptide identified in vivo, whereas its absence abrogates fibril formation. This study provides compelling evidence that VLITL confers amyloidogenic properties to Aα-chain frameshift variants, yielding a previously unknown molecular basis for the pathogenesis of Aα-chain amyloidosis.

Predicting Amyloidogenic Proteins in the Proteomes of Plants

Amyloids are protein fibrils with characteristic spatial structure. Though amyloids were long perceived to be pathogens that cause dozens of incurable pathologies in humans and mammals, it is currently clear that amyloids also represent a functionally important form of protein structure implicated in a variety of biological processes in organisms ranging from archaea and bacteria to fungi and animals. Despite their social significance, plants remain the most poorly studied group of organisms in the field of amyloid biology. To date, amyloid properties have only been demonstrated in vitro or in heterologous systems for a small number of plant proteins. Here, for the first time, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the distribution of potentially amyloidogenic proteins in the proteomes of approximately 70 species of land plants using the Waltz and SARP (Sequence Analysis based on the Ranking of Probabilities) bioinformatic algorithms. We analyzed more than 2.9 million protein sequences and found that potentially amyloidogenic proteins are abundant in plant proteomes. We found that such proteins are overrepresented among membrane as well as DNA- and RNA-binding proteins of plants. Moreover, seed storage and defense proteins of most plant species are rich in amyloidogenic regions. Taken together, our data demonstrate the diversity of potentially amyloidogenic proteins in plant proteomes and suggest biological processes where formation of amyloids might be functionally important.

Stability and aggregation propensity do not fully account for the association of various germline variable domain gene segments with light chain amyloidosis

Variable domain (VL) gene segments exhibit variable tendencies to be associated with light chain amyloidosis (AL). While few of them are very frequent in AL and give rise to most of the amyloidogenic light chains compiled at the sequence databases, other are rarely found among the AL cases. To analyze to which extent these tendencies depend on folding stability and aggregation propensity of the germline VL protein, we characterized VL proteins encoded by four AL-associated germline gene segments and one not associated to AL. We found that the AL-associated germline rVL proteins differ widely in conformational stability and propensity to in vitro amyloid aggregation. While in vitro the amyloid formation kinetics of these proteins correlate well with their folding stabilities, the folding stability does not clearly correlate with their germline's frequencies in AL. We conclude that the association of the VL genes segments to amyloidosis is not determined solely by the folding stability and aggregation propensity of the germline VL protein. Other factors, such as the frequencies of destabilizing mutations and susceptibility to proteolysis, must play a role in determining the light chain amyloidogenicity.

Usage of a dataset of NMR resolved protein structures to test aggregation versus solubility prediction algorithms

There has been an increased interest in computational methods for amyloid and (or) aggregate prediction, due to the prevalence of these aggregates in numerous diseases and their recently discovered functional importance. To evaluate these methods, several datasets have been compiled. Typically, aggregation-prone regions of proteins, which form aggregates or amyloids in vivo, are more than 15 residues long and intrinsically disordered. However, the number of such experimentally established amyloid forming and non-forming sequences are limited, not exceeding one hundred entries in existing databases. In this work, we parsed all available NMR-resolved protein structures from the PDB and assembled a new, sevenfold larger, dataset of unfolded sequences, soluble at high concentrations. We proposed to use these sequences as a negative set for evaluating methods for predicting aggregation in vivo. We also present the results of benchmarking cutting edge tools for the prediction of aggregation versus solubility propensity.

The effects of glutamine/asparagine content on aggregation and heterologous prion induction by yeast prion-like domains

Prion-like domains are low complexity, intrinsically disordered domains that compositionally resemble yeast prion domains. Many prion-like domains are involved in the formation of either functional or pathogenic protein aggregates. These aggregates range from highly dynamic liquid droplets to highly ordered detergent-insoluble amyloid-like aggregates. To better understand the amino acid sequence features that promote conversion to stable, detergent-insoluble aggregates, we used the prediction algorithm PAPA to identify predicted aggregation-prone prion-like domains with a range of compositions. While almost all of the predicted aggregation-prone domains formed foci when expressed in cells, the ability to form the detergent-insoluble aggregates was highly correlated with glutamine/asparagine (Q/N) content, suggesting that high Q/N content may specifically promote conversion to the amyloid state in vivo. We then used this data set to examine cross-seeding between prion-like proteins. The prion protein Sup35 requires the presence of a second prion, [PIN⁺], to efficiently form prions, but this requirement can be circumvented by the expression of various Q/N-rich protein fragments. Interestingly, almost all of the Q/N-rich domains that formed SDS-insoluble aggregates were able to promote prion formation by Sup35, highlighting the highly promiscuous nature of these interactions.

Catalytically-active inclusion bodies-Carrier-free protein immobilizates for application in biotechnology and biomedicine

Bacterial inclusion bodies (IBs) consist of unfolded protein aggregates and represent inactive waste products often accumulating during heterologous overexpression of recombinant genes in Escherichia coli. This general misconception has been challenged in recent years by the discovery that IBs, apart from misfolded polypeptides, can also contain substantial amounts of active and thus correctly or native-like folded protein. The corresponding catalytically-active inclusion bodies (CatIBs) can be regarded as a biologically-active sub-micrometer sized biomaterial or naturally-produced carrier-free protein immobilizate. Fusion of polypeptide (protein) tags can induce CatIB formation paving the way towards the wider application of CatIBs in synthetic chemistry, biocatalysis and biomedicine. In the present review we summarize the history of CatIBs, present the molecular-biological tools that are available to induce CatIB formation, and highlight potential lines of application. In the second part findings regarding the formation, architecture, and structure of (Cat)IBs are summarized. Finally, an overview is presented about the available bioinformatic tools that potentially allow for the prediction of aggregation and thus (Cat)IB formation. This review aims at demonstrating the potential of CatIBs for biotechnology and hopefully contributes to a wider acceptance of this promising, yet not widely utilized, protein preparation.

Cellular Regulation of Amyloid Formation in Aging and Disease

As the population is aging, the incidence of age-related neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer and Parkinson disease, is growing. The pathology of neurodegenerative diseases is characterized by the presence of protein aggregates of disease specific proteins in the brain of patients. Under certain conditions these disease proteins can undergo structural rearrangements resulting in misfolded proteins that can lead to the formation of aggregates with a fibrillar amyloid-like structure. Cells have different mechanisms to deal with this protein aggregation, where the molecular chaperone machinery constitutes the first line of defense against misfolded proteins. Proteins that cannot be refolded are subjected to degradation and compartmentalization processes. Amyloid formation has traditionally been described as responsible for the proteotoxicity associated with different neurodegenerative disorders. Several mechanisms have been suggested to explain such toxicity, including the sequestration of key proteins and the overload of the protein quality control system. Here, we review different aspects of the involvement of amyloid-forming proteins in disease, mechanisms of toxicity, structural features, and biological functions of amyloids, as well as the cellular mechanisms that modulate and regulate protein aggregation, including the presence of enhancers and suppressors of aggregation, and how aging impacts the functioning of these mechanisms, with special attention to the molecular chaperones.

Exploring the relationships between protein sequence, structure and solubility

Aggregation can be thought of as a form of protein folding in which intermolecular associations lead to the formation of large, insoluble assemblies. Various types of aggregates can be differentiated by their internal structures and gross morphologies (e.g., fibrillar or amorphous), and the ability to accurately predict the likelihood of their formation by a given polypeptide is of great practical utility in the fields of biology (including the study of disease), biotechnology, and biomaterials research. Here we review aggregation/solubility prediction methods and selected applications thereof. The development of increasingly sophisticated methods that incorporate knowledge of conformations possibly adopted by aggregating polypeptide monomers and predict the internal structure of aggregates is improving the accuracy of the predictions and continually expanding the range of applications.

What Makes a Prion: Infectious Proteins From Animals to Yeast

While philosophers in ancient times had many ideas for the cause of contagion, the modern study of infective agents began with Fracastoro's 1546 proposal that invisible "spores" spread infectious disease. However, firm categorization of the pathogens of the natural world would need to await a mature germ theory that would not arise for 300 years. In the 19th century, the earliest pathogens described were bacteria and other cellular microbes. By the close of that century, the work of Ivanovsky and Beijerinck introduced the concept of a virus, an infective particle smaller than any known cell. Extending into the early-mid-20th century there was an explosive growth in pathogenic microbiology, with a cellular or viral cause identified for nearly every transmissible disease. A few occult pathogens remained to be discovered, including the infectious proteins (prions) proposed by Prusiner in 1982. This review discusses the prions identified in mammals, yeasts, and other organisms, focusing on the amyloid-based prions. I discuss the essential biochemical properties of these agents and the application of this knowledge to diseases of protein misfolding and aggregation, as well as the utility of yeast as a model organism to study prion and amyloid proteins that affect human and animal health. Further, I summarize the ideas emerging out of these studies that the prion concept may go beyond proteinaceous infectious particles and that prions may be a subset of proteins having general nucleating or seeding functions involved in noninfectious as well as infectious pathogenic protein aggregation.

Exploring the aggregation free energy landscape of the amyloid-β protein (1-40)

A predictive coarse-grained protein force field [associative memory, water-mediated, structure, and energy model for molecular dynamics (AWSEM)-MD] is used to study the energy landscapes and relative stabilities of amyloid-β protein (1-40) in the monomer and all of its oligomeric forms up to an octamer. We find that an isolated monomer is mainly disordered with a short α-helix formed at the central hydrophobic core region (L17-D23). A less stable hairpin structure, however, becomes increasingly more stable in oligomers, where hydrogen bonds can form between neighboring monomers. We explore the structure and stability of both prefibrillar oligomers that consist of mainly antiparallel β-sheets and fibrillar oligomers with only parallel β-sheets. Prefibrillar oligomers are polymorphic but typically take on a cylindrin-like shape composed of mostly antiparallel β-strands. At the concentration of the simulation, the aggregation free energy landscape is nearly downhill. We use umbrella sampling along a structural progress coordinate for interconversion between prefibrillar and fibrillar forms to identify a conversion pathway between these forms. The fibrillar oligomer only becomes favored over its prefibrillar counterpart in the pentamer where an interconversion bottleneck appears. The structural characterization of the pathway along with statistical mechanical perturbation theory allow us to evaluate the effects of concentration on the free energy landscape of aggregation as well as the effects of the Dutch and Arctic mutations associated with early onset of Alzheimer's disease.

Characterization of Amyloid Cores in Prion Domains

Amyloids consist of repetitions of a specific polypeptide chain in a regular cross-β-sheet conformation. Amyloid propensity is largely determined by the protein sequence, the aggregation process being nucleated by specific and short segments. Prions are special amyloids that become self-perpetuating after aggregation. Prions are responsible for neuropathology in mammals, but they can also be functional, as in yeast prions. The conversion of these last proteins to the prion state is driven by prion forming domains (PFDs), which are generally large, intrinsically disordered, enriched in glutamines/asparagines and depleted in hydrophobic residues. The self-assembly of PFDs has been thought to rely mostly on their particular amino acid composition, rather than on their sequence. Instead, we have recently proposed that specific amyloid-prone sequences within PFDs might be key to their prion behaviour. Here, we demonstrate experimentally the existence of these amyloid stretches inside the PFDs of the canonical Sup35, Swi1, Mot3 and Ure2 prions. These sequences self-assemble efficiently into highly ordered amyloid fibrils, that are functionally competent, being able to promote the PFD amyloid conversion in vitro and in vivo. Computational analyses indicate that these kind of amyloid stretches may act as typical nucleating signals in a number of different prion domains.

The ubiquitin proteasomal system: a potential target for the management of Alzheimer's disease

The cellular quality control system degrades abnormal or misfolded proteins and consists of three different mechanisms: the ubiquitin proteasomal system (UPS), autophagy and molecular chaperones. Any disturbance in this system causes proteins to accumulate, resulting in neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and prion or polyglutamine diseases. Alzheimer's disease is currently one of the most common age-related neurodegenerative diseases. However, its exact cause and pathogenesis are unknown. Currently approved medications for AD provide symptomatic relief; however, they fail to influence disease progression. Moreover, the components of the cellular quality control system represent an important focus for the development of targeted and potent therapies for managing AD. This review aims to evaluate whether existing evidence supports the hypothesis that UPS impairment causes the early pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. The first part presents basic information about the UPS and its molecular components. The next part explains how the UPS is involved in neurodegenerative disorders. Finally, we emphasize how the UPS influences the management of AD. This review may help in the design of future UPS-related therapies for AD.

Mechanism of Amyloidogenesis of a Bacterial AAA+ Chaperone

Amyloids are fibrillar protein superstructures that are commonly associated with diseases in humans and with physiological functions in various organisms. The precise mechanisms of amyloid formation remain to be elucidated. Surprisingly, we discovered that a bacterial Escherichia coli chaperone-like ATPase, regulatory ATPase variant A (RavA), and specifically the LARA domain in RavA, forms amyloids under acidic conditions at elevated temperatures. RavA is involved in modulating the proper assembly of membrane respiratory complexes. LARA contains an N-terminal loop region followed by a β-sandwich-like folded core. Several approaches, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations, were used to determine the mechanism by which LARA switches to an amyloid state. These studies revealed that the folded core of LARA is amyloidogenic and is protected by its N-terminal loop. At low pH and high temperatures, the interaction of the N-terminal loop with the folded core is disrupted, leading to amyloid formation.

Clues for divergent, polymorphic amyloidogenesis through dissection of amyloid forming steps of bovine carbonic anhydrase and its critical amyloid forming stretch

Certain amino acid stretches are considered 'critical' to trigger amyloidogenesis in a protein. Synthetic peptides corresponding to these stretches are often used as experimental mimics for studying the amyloidogenesis of their parent protein. Here we provide evidence that such simple extrapolation is misleading. We scrutinized each step of amyloid progression of full length bovine carbonic anhydrase (BCA) and compared it with the amyloidogenic process of its critical peptide stretch 201-227 (PepB). We found that under similar solution conditions amyloidogenesis of BCA followed surface-catalyzed secondary nucleation, whereas, that of PepB followed classical nucleation-dependent pathway. AFM images showed that while BCA formed short, thick and branched fibrils, PepB formed thin, long and unbranched fibrils. Structural information obtained by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy suggested parallel arrangement of intermolecular β-sheet in BCA amyloids in contrast to PepB amyloids which arranged into antiparallel β sheets. Amyloids formed by BCA were unable to seed the fibrillation of PepB and vice versa. Even the intermediates formed during lag phase revealed contrasting FTIR and far UV CD signature, hydrophobicity, morphology and cell cytotoxicity. Thus, we propose that sequences other than critical amyloidogenic stretches may significantly influence the initiation, polymerization and final fibrillar morphology of amyloid forming protein. The results have been discussed in light of primary sequence mediated amyloid polymorphism and its importance in the rational design of amyloid nanomaterials possessing desired physico-chemical properties.

Critical Nucleus Structure and Aggregation Mechanism of the C-terminal Fragment of Copper-Zinc Superoxide Dismutase Protein

The aggregation of the copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (SOD1) protein is linked to familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease. A recent experimental study has shown that the (147)GVIGIAQ(153) SOD1 C-terminal segment not only forms amyloid fibrils in isolation but also accelerates the aggregation of full-length SOD1, while substitution of isoleucine at site 149 by proline blocks its fibril formation. Amyloid formation is a nucleation-polymerization process. In this study, we investigated the oligomerization and the nucleus structure of this heptapeptide. By performing extensive replica-exchange molecular dynamics (REMD) simulations and conventional MD simulations, we found that the GVIGIAQ hexamers can adopt highly ordered bilayer β-sheets and β-barrels. In contrast, substitution of I149 by proline significantly reduces the β-sheet probability and results in the disappearance of bilayer β-sheet structures and the increase of disordered hexamers. We identified mixed parallel-antiparallel bilayer β-sheets in both REMD and conventional MD simulations and provided the conformational transition from the experimentally observed parallel bilayer sheets to the mixed parallel-antiparallel bilayer β-sheets. Our simulations suggest that the critical nucleus consists of six peptide chains and two additional peptide chains strongly stabilize this critical nucleus. The stabilized octamer is able to recruit additional random peptides into the β-sheet. Therefore, our simulations provide insights into the critical nucleus formation and the smallest stable nucleus of the (147)GVIGIAQ(153) peptide.

Crystallographic studies on protein misfolding: Domain swapping and amyloid formation in the SH3 domain

Oligomerization by 3D domain swapping is found in a variety of proteins of diverse size, fold and function. In the early 1960s this phenomenon was postulated for the oligomers of ribonuclease A, but it was not until the 1990s that X-ray diffraction provided the first experimental evidence of this special manner of oligomerization. Nowadays, structural information has allowed the identification of these swapped oligomers in over one hundred proteins. Although the functional relevance of this phenomenon is not clear, this alternative folding of protomers into intertwined oligomers has been related to amyloid formation. Studies on proteins that develop 3D domain swapping might provide some clues on the early stages of amyloid formation. The SH3 domain is a small modular domain that has been used as a model to study the basis of protein folding. Among SH3 domains, the c-Src-SH3 domain emerges as a helpful model to study 3D domain swapping and amyloid formation.

Structural hot spots for the solubility of globular proteins

Natural selection shapes protein solubility to physiological requirements and recombinant applications that require higher protein concentrations are often problematic. This raises the question whether the solubility of natural protein sequences can be improved. We here show an anti-correlation between the number of aggregation prone regions (APRs) in a protein sequence and its solubility, suggesting that mutational suppression of APRs provides a simple strategy to increase protein solubility. We show that mutations at specific positions within a protein structure can act as APR suppressors without affecting protein stability. These hot spots for protein solubility are both structure and sequence dependent but can be computationally predicted. We demonstrate this by reducing the aggregation of human α-galactosidase and protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis through mutation. Our results indicate that many proteins possess hot spots allowing to adapt protein solubility independently of structure and function.

Mutations in aggregation prone regions of recombinant proteins often improve their solubility, although they might cause negative effects on their structure and function. Here, the authors identify proteins hot spots that can be exploited to optimize solubility without compromising stability.