title: The first N-terminal amino acids of alpha-synuclein are essential for alpha-helical structure formation in vitro and membrane binding in yeast.
abstract: Alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn), a protein implicated in Parkinson's disease, is structurally diverse. In addition to its random-coil state, alpha-syn can adopt an alpha-helical structure upon lipid membrane binding or a beta-sheet structure upon aggregation. We used yeast biology and in vitro biochemistry to detect how sequence changes alter the structural propensity of alpha-syn. The N-terminus of the protein, which adopts an alpha-helical conformation upon lipid binding, is essential for membrane binding in yeast, and variants that are more prone to forming an alpha-helical structure in vitro are generally more toxic to yeast. beta-Sheet structure and inclusion formation, on the other hand, appear to be protective, possibly by sequestering the protein from the membrane. Surprisingly, sequential deletion of residues 2 through 11 caused a dramatic drop in alpha-helical propensity, vesicle binding in vitro, and membrane binding and toxicity in yeast, part of which could be mimicked by mutating aspartic acid at position 2 to alanine. Variants with distinct structural preferences, identified here by a reductionist approach, provide valuable tools for elucidating the nature of toxic forms of alpha-syn in neurons.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, 65 Landsdowne Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Katherina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vamvaca
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Volles
authors.forename: Peter T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Lansbury
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011485:Protein Binding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D015003:Yeasts / Q000737:chemistry*; D051844:alpha-Synuclein / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D051844:alpha-Synuclein