title: Neuroglobin-prion protein interaction: what's the function?
abstract: Neuroglobin and cellular prion protein (PrP(C) ) are expressed in the nervous system and co-localized in the retinal ganglion cell layer. Both proteins do not have an unambiguously assigned function, and it was recently reported that PrP(C) aggregates rapidly in the presence of neuroglobin, whereas it does not aggregate in the presence of myoglobin, another globin with different tissue specificity. Electrostatic complementarity between the unstructured PrP(C) N-terminus and neuroglobin has been proposed to mediate this specific interaction. To verifythis hypothesis experimentally, we have used a combined approach of automated docking and molecular dynamics (MD) studies carried out on short stretches of prion protein (PrP) N-terminus to identify the minimal electrostatically interacting aminoacidic sequences with neuroglobin. Subsequently, we have performed the synthesis of these peptides by solid phase methods, and we tested their interaction with neuroglobin by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Preliminary results confirm unequivocally the specific interaction between synthetic PrP peptides and neuroglobin suggesting a crucial role of PrP(C) positively charged regions in thisprotein-protein association.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento delle Scienze Biologiche & CIRPeB, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, IT-80134 Napoli, Italy.
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palladino
authors.forename: Giovanni Luca
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Scaglione
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arcovito
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maria Vitale
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Amodeo
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vallone
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brunori
authors.forename: Ettore
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Benedetti
authors.forename: Filomena
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rossi
mesh_terms: D005914:Globins / Q000378:metabolism*; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D000078787:Neuroglobin; D011328:Prions / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D000078787:Neuroglobin; D011328:Prions; D005914:Globins