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Cited by 159Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsProtein Structure and DynamicsChemical Synthesis and Analysis

Rationally designed mutations convert de novo amyloid-like fibrils into monomeric β-sheet proteins

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Wang, Weixun, Hecht, Michael H.·2002·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI 10.1073/pnas.052706199PMC PMC122421
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Abstract

Amyloid fibrils are associated with a variety of neurodegenerative maladies including Alzheimer's disease and the prion diseases. The structures of amyloid fibrils are composed of β-strands oriented orthogonal to the fibril axis (“cross β” structure). We previously reported the design and characterization of a combinatorial library of de novo β-sheet proteins that self-assemble into fibrillar structures resembling amyloid. The libraries were designed by using a “binary code” strategy, in which the locations of polar and nonpolar residues are specified explicitly, but the identities of these residues are not specified and are varied combinatorially. The initial libraries were designed to encode proteins containing amphiphilic β-strands separated by reverse turns. Each β-strand was designed to be seven residues long, with polar (○) and nonpolar (●) amino acids arranged with an alternating periodicity (○●○●○●○). The initial design specified the identical polar/nonpolar pattern for all of the β-strands; no strand was explicitly designated to form the edges of the resulting β-sheets. With all β-strands preferring to occupy interior (as opposed to edge) locations, intermolecular oligomerization was favored, and the proteins assembled into amyloid-like fibrils. To assess whether explicit design of edge-favoring strands might tip the balance in favor of monomeric β-sheet proteins, we have now redesigned the first and/or last β-strands of several sequences from the original library. In the redesigned β-strands, the binary pattern is changed from ○●○●○●○ to ○●○K○●○ (K denotes lysine). The presence of a lysine on the nonpolar face of a β-strand should disfavor fibrillar structures because such structures would bury an uncompensated charge. The nonpolar → lysine mutations, therefore, would be expected to favor monomeric structures in which the ○●○K○●○ sequences form edge strands with the charged lysine side chain accessible to solvent. To test this hypothesis, we constructed several second generation sequences in which the central nonpolar residue of either the N-terminal β-strand or the C-terminal β-strand (or both) is changed to lysine. Characterization of the redesigned proteins shows that they form monomeric β-sheet proteins.

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  • Inward-pointing charged side chains in edge strands are a known negative design principle that prevents aggregation of soluble β-sandwich proteins.

    “Related to these findings, inward-pointing charged side chains in edge strands are known to be a common negative design principle that prevents aggregation of soluble β-sandwich proteins (68) and has been employed to convert de novo amyloid fibrils into monomeric β-sheet proteins (69).”

    From MAP2 caps tau fibrils and inhibits aggregation (2023) · cites this paper as [69]

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Authors
Wang, W., & Hecht, M. H.
Affiliations
Princeton University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Published
2002-03-05
Volume
99
Issue
5
Pages
2760-2765
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.052706199
PMC
PMC122421
OpenAlex
W2118038132
Cited by
159
References
32
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 2
FWCI
12.21
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Protein Structure and Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Chemical Synthesis and Analysis
Keywords
amyloid fibrils, cross-β structure, combinatorial protein libraries, lysine mutations, protein self-assembly, neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer's disease, prion disease
MeSH terms
Amino Acid Sequence, Amyloid, Models, Molecular, Molecular Sequence Data, Oligopeptides, Solubility, Mutagenesis, Protein Structure, Secondary

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