Y145Stop is sufficient to induce de novo generation prions using protein misfolding cyclic amplification.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Abdallah A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3338969 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Measurements of the presence of prions in biological tissues or fluids rely more and more on cell-free assays. Although protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) has emerged as a valuable, sensitive tool, it is currently hampered by its lack of robustness and rapidity for high-throughput purposes. Here, we made a number of improvements making it possible to amplify the maximum levels of scrapie prions in a single 48-h round and in a microplate format. The amplification rates and the infectious titer of the PMCA-formed prions appeared similar to those derived from the in vivo laboratory bioassays. This enhanced technique also amplified efficiently prions from different species, including those responsible for human variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. This new format should help in developing ultrasensitive, high-throughput prion assays for cognitive, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications. IMPORTANCE The method developed here allows large-scale, fast, and reliable cell-free amplification of subinfectious levels of prions from different species. The sensitivity and rapidity achieved approach or equal those of other recently developed prion-seeded conversion assays. Our simplified assay may be amenable to high-throughput, automated purposes and serve in a complementary manner with other recently developed assays for urgently needed antemortem diagnostic tests, by using bodily fluids containing small amounts of prion infectivity. Such a combination of assays is of paramount importance to reduce the transfusion risk in the human population and to identify asymptomatic carriers of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
| S-EPMC3884057 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Unlike variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease prions, sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease prions have been shown to be difficult to amplify in vitro by protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA). We assessed PMCA of pathological prion protein (PrPTSE) from 14 human sCJD brain samples in 3 substrates: 2 from transgenic mice expressing human prion protein (PrP) with either methionine (M) or valine (V) at position 129, and 1 from bank voles. Brain extracts representing the 5 major clinicopathological sCJD subtypes (MM1/MV1, MM2, MV2, VV1, and VV2) all triggered seeded PrPTSE amplification during serial PMCA with strong seed- and substrate-dependence. Remarkably, bank vole PrP substrate allowed the propagation of all sCJD subtypes with preservation of the initial molecular PrPTSE type. In contrast, PMCA in human PrP substrates was accompanied by a PrPTSE molecular shift during heterologous (M/V129) PMCA reactions, with increased permissiveness of V129 PrP substrate to in vitro sCJD prion amplification compared to M129 PrP substrate. Combining PMCA amplification sensitivities with PrPTSE electrophoretic profiles obtained in the different substrates confirmed the classification of 4 distinct major sCJD prion strains (M1, M2, V1, and V2). Finally, the level of sensitivity required to detect VV2 sCJD prions in cerebrospinal fluid was achieved.
| S-EPMC7893054 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Mammalian cells that have undergone gene amplification and/or gene rearrangement have been used as resources to gain insight into the questions of chromosome structure and dynamics. The multidrug resistant murine cell line J7.V2-1 has been shown previously to contain two distinct forms of the highly amplified mdr2 gene, a member of the mouse gene family responsible for the multidrug resistant (MDR) phenotype [Kirschner, L. S. (1995) DNA Cell Biol. 14, 47-59]. Characterization of both forms of the gene revealed that one form corresponded to the wild-type structure of the gene, whereas the other represented a rearrangement. Investigation of this altered gene demonstrated a deletion of 1.6 kb of the wild-type sequence, and replacement of this region with a poly(AT) tract that appears to have been generated de novo. Analysis of the native sequence in this region demonstrated the absence of repetitive elements, but was notable for the presence of two long stretches of polypurine: polypyrimidine strand asymmetry. Analysis of mdr2 transcripts in this cell line revealed that nearly all of the mRNA is transcribed from the rearranged form of the gene. This message is unable to code for a functional mdr2 gene product, owing to a deletion of the fourth exon during this event. Mechanisms of the rearrangement, as well as the significance of this curious effect on transcription, are discussed.
| S-EPMC146008 | biostudies-other
Project description:Protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) provides faithful replication of mammalian prions in vitro and has numerous applications in prion research. However, the low efficiency of conversion of PrP(C) into PrP(Sc) in PMCA limits the applicability of PMCA for many uses including structural studies of infectious prions. It also implies that only a small sub-fraction of PrP(C) may be available for conversion. Here we show that the yield, rate, and robustness of prion conversion and the sensitivity of prion detection are significantly improved by a simple modification of the PMCA format. Conducting PMCA reactions in the presence of Teflon beads (PMCAb) increased the conversion of PrP(C) into PrP(Sc) from ?10% to up to 100%. In PMCAb, a single 24-hour round consistently amplified PrP(Sc) by 600-700-fold. Furthermore, the sensitivity of prion detection in one round (24 hours) increased by 2-3 orders of magnitude. Using serial PMCAb, a 10¹²-fold dilution of scrapie brain material could be amplified to the level detectible by Western blotting in 3 rounds (72 hours). The improvements in amplification efficiency were observed for the commonly used hamster 263K strain and for the synthetic strain SSLOW that otherwise amplifies poorly in PMCA. The increase in the amplification efficiency did not come at the expense of prion replication specificity. The current study demonstrates that poor conversion efficiencies observed previously have not been due to the scarcity of a sub-fraction of PrP(C) susceptible to conversion nor due to limited concentrations of essential cellular cofactors required for conversion. The new PMCAb format offers immediate practical benefits and opens new avenues for developing fast ultrasensitive assays and for producing abundant quantities of PrP(Sc)in vitro.
| S-EPMC3037363 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The prion hypothesis is strongly supported by the fact that prion infectivity and the pathogenic conformer of prion protein (PrP) are simultaneously propagated in vitro by the serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification (sPMCA). However, due to sPMCA's enormous amplification power, whether an infectious prion can be formed de novo with bacterially expressed recombinant PrP (rPrP) remains to be satisfactorily resolved. To address this question, we performed unseeded sPMCA with rPrP in a laboratory that has never been exposed to any native prions. Two types of proteinase K (PK)-resistant and self-perpetuating recombinant PrP conformers (rPrP-res) with PK-resistant cores of 17 or 14 kDa were generated. A bioassay revealed that rPrP-res(17kDa) was highly infectious, causing prion disease in wild-type mice with an average survival time of about 172 d. In contrast, rPrP-res(14kDa) completely failed to induce any disease. Our findings reveal that sPMCA is sufficient to initiate various self-perpetuating PK-resistant rPrP conformers, but not all of them possess in vivo infectivity. Moreover, generating an infectious prion in a prion-free environment establishes that an infectious prion can be formed de novo with bacterially expressed rPrP.
| S-EPMC3834773 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Prion diseases are a group of rapidly progressing neurodegenerative disorders caused by the misfolding of the endogenous prion protein (PrPC) into a pathogenic form (PrPSc). This process, despite being the central event underlying these disorders, remains largely unknown at a molecular level, precluding the prediction of new potential outbreaks or interspecies transmission incidents. In this work, we present a method to generate bona fide recombinant prions de novo, allowing a comprehensive analysis of protein misfolding across a wide range of prion proteins from mammalian species. We study more than 380 different prion proteins from mammals and classify them according to their spontaneous misfolding propensity and their conformational variability. This study aims to address fundamental questions in the prion research field such as defining infectivity determinants, interspecies transmission barriers or the structural influence of specific amino acids and provide invaluable information for future diagnosis and therapy applications.
| S-EPMC10923866 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Prions are the proteinaceous infectious agents responsible for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies. Compelling evidence supports the hypothesis that prions are composed exclusively of a misfolded version of the prion protein (PrP(Sc)) that replicates in the body in the absence of nucleic acids by inducing the misfolding of the cellular prion protein (PrP(C)). The most common form of human prion disease is sporadic, which appears to have its origin in a low frequency event of spontaneous misfolding to generate the first PrP(Sc) particle that then propagates as in the infectious form of the disease. The main goal of this study was to mimic an early event in the etiology of sporadic disease by attempting de novo generation of infectious PrP(Sc)in vitro. For this purpose we analyzed in detail the possibility of spontaneous generation of PrP(Sc) by the protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) procedure. Under standard PMCA conditions, and taking precautions to avoid cross-contamination, de novo generation of PrP(Sc) was never observed, supporting the use of the technology for diagnostic applications. However, we report that PMCA can be modified to generate PrP(Sc) in the absence of pre-existing PrP(Sc) in different animal species at a low and variable rate. De novo generated PrP(Sc) was infectious when inoculated into wild type hamsters, producing a new disease phenotype with unique clinical, neuropathological and biochemical features. Our results represent additional evidence in support of the prion hypothesis and provide a simple model to study the mechanism of sporadic prion disease. The findings also suggest that prion diversity is not restricted to those currently known, and that likely new forms of infectious protein foldings may be produced, resulting in novel disease phenotypes.
| S-EPMC2675078 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Human prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are transmissible brain proteinopathies, characterized by the accumulation of a misfolded isoform of the host cellular prion protein (PrP) in the brain. According to the prion model, prions are defined as proteinaceous infectious particles composed solely of this abnormal isoform of PrP (PrPSc). Even in the absence of genetic material, various prion strains can be propagated in experimental models. They can be distinguished by the pattern of disease they produce and especially by the localization of PrPSc deposits within the brain and the spongiform lesions they induce. The mechanisms involved in this strain-specific targeting of distinct brain regions still are a fundamental, unresolved question in prion research. To address this question, we exploited a prion conversion in vitro assay, protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA), by using experimental scrapie and human prion strains as seeds and specific brain regions from mice and humans as substrates. We show here that region-specific PMCA in part reproduces the specific brain targeting observed in experimental, acquired, and sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseases. Furthermore, we provide evidence that, in addition to cellular prion protein, other region- and species-specific molecular factors influence the strain-dependent prion conversion process. This important step toward understanding prion strain propagation in the human brain may impact research on the molecular factors involved in protein misfolding and the development of ultrasensitive methods for diagnosing prion disease.
| S-EPMC5633130 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) has emerged as an important technique for detecting low levels of pathogenic prion protein in biological samples. The method exploits the ability of the pathogenic prion protein to convert the normal prion protein to a proteinase K-resistant conformation. Inclusion of Teflon® beads in the PMCA reaction (PMCAb) has been previously shown to increase the sensitivity and robustness of detection for the 263 K and SSLOW strains of hamster-adapted prions. Here, we demonstrate that PMCAb with saponin dramatically increases the sensitivity of detection for chronic wasting disease (CWD) agent without compromising the specificity of the assay (i.e., no false positive results). Addition of Teflon® beads increased the robustness of the PMCA reaction, resulting in a decrease in the variability of PMCA results. Three rounds of serial PMCAb allowed detection of CWD agent from a 6.7 × 10(-13) dilution of 10% brain homogenate (1.3 fg of source brain). Titration of the same brain homogenate in transgenic mice expressing cervid prion protein (Tg(CerPrP)1536(+/-) mice) allowed detection of CWD agent from the 10(-6) dilution of 10% brain homogenate. PMCAb is, thus, more sensitive than bioassay in transgenic mice by a factor exceeding 10(5). Additionally, we are able to amplify CWD agent from brain tissue and lymph nodes of CWD-positive white-tailed deer having Prnp alleles associated with reduced disease susceptibility.
| S-EPMC3325955 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The structural characterization of de novo designed metalloproteins together with determination of chemical reactivity can provide a detailed understanding of the relationship between protein structure and functional properties. Toward this goal, we have prepared a series of cyclic peptides that bind to water-soluble metalloporphyrins (FeIII and CoIII). Neutral and positively charged histidine-containing peptides bind with a high affinity, whereas anionic peptides bind only weakly to the negatively charged metalloporphyrin. Additionally, it was found that the peptide becomes helical only in the presence of the metalloporphyrin. CD experiments confirm that the metalloporphyrin binds specific cyclic peptides with high affinity and with isodichroic behavior. Thermal unfolding experiments show that the complex has "native-like" properties. Finally, NMR spectroscopy produced well dispersed spectra and experimental restraints that provide a high-resolution solution structure of the complexed peptide.
| S-EPMC263730 | biostudies-literature