title: Copper binding properties of a tau peptide associated with Alzheimer's disease studied by CD, NMR, and MALDI-TOF MS.
abstract: We have previously reported the copper binding properties of R3 peptide (residues 318-335: VTSKCGSLGNIHHKPGGG, according to the longest tau protein) derived from the third repeat microtubule-binding domain of water-soluble tau protein. In this work, we have investigated copper binding properties of R2 peptide (residues 287-304: VQSKCGSKDNIKHVPGGG) derived from the second repeat region of tau protein. Similar to R3 peptide, R2 peptide also plays an important role in the formation of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) which is one of the two main biological characteristics of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Based on the copper binding properties of R2 peptide, the possible influences of the binding on the formation of NFTs were investigated. Results from circular dichroism (CD) spectra, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) suggest that the binding is pH-dependent and stoichiometry-determined. In addition, these results also reveal that R2 peptide adopts a monomeric alpha-helical structure in aqueous solutions at physiological pH after the addition of 1 mol equiv. of Cu2+. Since alpha-helix structure is responsible for the formation of paired helical filaments (PHFs) which aggregate into NFTs, it is hypothesized that Cu2+ induces R2 peptide to self-assemble into a PHFs-like structure. Hence, it is postulated that Cu2+ plays an important role in the aggregation of R2 peptide and tau protein and that copper binding to R2 peptide may be another possible involvement in AD.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China.
authors.forename: Qingfeng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yanmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jintang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Huadong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kanazawa
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nemoto
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakanishi
authors.forename: Yufen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000378:metabolism*; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D003300:Copper / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011485:Protein Binding; D011487:Protein Conformation; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010446:Peptide Fragments; D016875:tau Proteins; D003300:Copper