Independent relationship between amyloid precursor protein (APP) dimerization and ?-secretase processivity.
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ABSTRACT: Altered production of ?-amyloid (A?) from the amyloid precursor protein (APP) is closely associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). APP has a number of homo- and hetero-dimerizing domains, and studies have suggested that dimerization of ?-secretase derived APP carboxyl terminal fragment (CTF?, C99) impairs processive cleavage by ?-secretase increasing production of long A?s (e.g., A?1-42, 43). Other studies report that APP CTF? dimers are not ?-secretase substrates. We revisited this issue due to observations made with an artificial APP mutant referred to as 3xK-APP, which contains three lysine residues at the border of the APP ectodomain and transmembrane domain (TMD). This mutant, which dramatically increases production of long A?, was found to form SDS-stable APP dimers, once again suggesting a mechanistic link between dimerization and increased production of long A?. To further evaluate how multimerization of substrate affects both initial ?-secretase cleavage and subsequent processivity, we generated recombinant wild type- (WT) and 3xK-C100 substrates, isolated monomeric, dimeric and trimeric forms of these proteins, and evaluated both ?-cleavage site utilization and A? production. These show that multimerization significantly impedes ?-secretase cleavage, irrespective of substrate sequence. Further, the monomeric form of the 3xK-C100 mutant increased long A? production without altering the initial ?-cleavage utilization. These data confirm and extend previous studies showing that dimeric substrates are not efficient ?-secretase substrates, and demonstrate that primary sequence determinants within APP substrate alter ?-secretase processivity.
SUBMITTER: Jung JI
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4211736 | biostudies-literature | 2014
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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