Neurobiology of Lipids Noteworthy Articles

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September 25, 2007

Tilted properties of the 67-78 fragment of alpha-synuclein are responsible for membrane destabilization and neurotoxicity

Proteins. 2007 Sep 1;68(4):936-47
Crowet JM, Lins L, Dupiereux I, Elmoualija B, Lorin A, Charloteaux B, Stroobant V, Heinen E, Brasseur R.
Gembloux Agricultural University, Centre de Biophysique Moleculaire Numerique, 2 Passage des Deportes, B-5030 Gembloux, Belgium
PubMed ID and Record

Alpha-synuclein is a 140 residue protein associated with Parkinson's disease. Intraneural inclusions called Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites are mainly composed of alpha-synuclein aggregated into amyloid fibrils. Other amyloidogenic proteins, such as the beta amyloid peptide involved in Alzheimer's disease and the prion protein (PrP) associated with Creuztfeldt-Jakob's disease, are known to possess "tilted peptides". These peptides are short protein fragments that adopt an oblique orientation at a hydrophobic/hydrophilic interface, which enables destabilization of the membranes. In this paper, sequence analysis and molecular modelling predict that the 67-78 fragment of alpha-synuclein is a tilted peptide. Its destabilizing properties were tested experimentally. The alpha-synuclein 67-78 peptide is able to induce lipid mixing and leakage of unilamellar liposomes. The neuronal toxicity, studied using human neuroblastoma cells, demonstrated that the alpha-synuclein 67-78 peptide induces neurotoxicity. A mutant designed by molecular modelling to be amphipathic was shown to be significantly less fusogenic and toxic than the wild type. In conclusion, we have identified a tilted peptide in alpha-synuclein, which could be involved in the toxicity induced during amyloidogenesis of alpha-synuclein.

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