Dataset Information

Investigating Mutations to Reduce Huntingtin Aggregation by Increasing Htt-N-Terminal Stability and Weakening Interactions with PolyQ Domain.

ABSTRACT: Huntington's disease is a fatal autosomal genetic disorder characterized by an expanded glutamine-coding CAG repeat sequence in the huntingtin (Htt) exon 1 gene. The Htt protein associated with the disease misfolds into toxic oligomers and aggregate fibril structures. Competing models for the misfolding and aggregation phenomena have suggested the role of the Htt-N-terminal region and the CAG trinucleotide repeats (polyQ domain) in affecting aggregation propensities and misfolding. In particular, one model suggests a correlation between structural stability and the emergence of toxic oligomers, whereas a second model proposes that molecular interactions with the extended polyQ domain increase aggregation propensity. In this paper, we computationally explore the potential to reduce Htt aggregation by addressing the aggregation causes outlined in both models. We investigate the mutation landscape of the Htt-N-terminal region and explore amino acid residue mutations that affect its structural stability and hydrophobic interactions with the polyQ domain. Out of the millions of 3-point mutation combinations that we explored, the (L4K E12K K15E) was the most promising mutation combination that addressed aggregation causes in both models. The mutant structure exhibited extreme alpha-helical stability, low amyloidogenicity potential, a hydrophobic residue replacement, and removal of a solvent-inaccessible intermolecular side chain that assists oligomerization.

SUBMITTER: Smaoui MR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5206856 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Investigating Mutations to Reduce Huntingtin Aggregation by Increasing Htt-N-Terminal Stability and Weakening Interactions with PolyQ Domain.

Smaoui Mohamed R MR Mazza-Anthony Cody C Waldispühl Jérôme J

Computational and mathematical methods in medicine 20161214

Huntington's disease is a fatal autosomal genetic disorder characterized by an expanded glutamine-coding CAG repeat sequence in the huntingtin (Htt) exon 1 gene. The Htt protein associated with the disease misfolds into toxic oligomers and aggregate fibril structures. Competing models for the misfolding and aggregation phenomena have suggested the role of the Htt-N-terminal region and the CAG trinucleotide repeats (polyQ domain) in affecting aggregation propensities and misfolding. In particular ...[more]

PMID: 28096892

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Project description:Protein aggregation is a hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases. In order to cope with misfolding and aggregation, cells have evolved an elaborate network of molecular chaperones, composed of different families. But while chaperoning mechanisms for different families are well established, functional and regulatory diversification within chaperone families is still largely a mystery. Here we decided to explore chaperone functional diversity, through the lens of pathological aggregation. We revealed that different naturally-occurring isoforms of DNAJ chaperones showed differential effects on different types of aggregates. We performed a chaperone screen for modulators of two neurodegeneration-related aggregating proteins, the Huntington’s disease-related HTT-polyQ, and the ALS-related mutant FUS (mutFUS). The screen identified known modulators of HTT-polyQ aggregation, confirming the validity of our approach. Surprisingly, modulators of mutFUS aggregation were completely different than those of HTT-polyQ. Interestingly, different naturally-occurring isoforms of DNAJ chaperones had opposing effects on HTT-polyQ vs. mutFUS aggregation. We identified a complex of the full length (FL) DNAJB14 and DNAJB12 isoforms which substantially alleviated mutFUS aggregation, in an HSP70-dependent manner. Their naturally occurring short isoforms were unable to form the complex, nor to interact with HSP70, and lost their ability to reduce mutFUS aggregation. In contrast, the short isoform of DNAJB12 significantly alleviated HTT-polyQ aggregation, while DNAJB12-FL aggravated HTT-polyQ aggregation. Finally, we demonstrated that full-length DNAJB14 ameliorated mutFUS aggregation compared to DNAJB14-short in primary neurons. Together, our data unraveled distinct molecular properties required for aggregation protection in different neurodegenerative diseases, and revealed a new layer of complexity of the chaperone network elicited by naturally occurring J-protein isoforms, highlighting functional diversity among the DNAJ family.

Dataset Information

Investigating Mutations to Reduce Huntingtin Aggregation by Increasing Htt-N-Terminal Stability and Weakening Interactions with PolyQ Domain.

Publications

Investigating Mutations to Reduce Huntingtin Aggregation by Increasing Htt-N-Terminal Stability and Weakening Interactions with PolyQ Domain.

Similar Datasets

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