Dataset Information

The amyloid-beta forming tripeptide cleavage mechanism of ?-secretase.

ABSTRACT: ?-secretase is responsible for the proteolysis of amyloid precursor protein (APP) into short, aggregation-prone amyloid-beta (A?) peptides, which are centrally implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Despite considerable interest in developing ?-secretase targeting therapeutics for the treatment of AD, the precise mechanism by which ?-secretase produces A? has remained elusive. Herein, we demonstrate that ?-secretase catalysis is driven by the stabilization of an enzyme-substrate scission complex via three distinct amino-acid-binding pockets in the enzyme's active site, providing the mechanism by which ?-secretase preferentially cleaves APP in three amino acid increments. Substrate occupancy of these three pockets occurs after initial substrate binding but precedes catalysis, suggesting a conformational change in substrate may be required for cleavage. We uncover and exploit substrate cleavage preferences dictated by these three pockets to investigate the mechanism by which familial Alzheimer's disease mutations within APP increase the production of pathogenic A? species.

SUBMITTER: Bolduc DM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5134833 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

The amyloid-beta forming tripeptide cleavage mechanism of γ-secretase.

Bolduc David M DM Montagna Daniel R DR Seghers Matthew C MC Wolfe Michael S MS Selkoe Dennis J DJ

eLife 20160831

γ-secretase is responsible for the proteolysis of amyloid precursor protein (APP) into short, aggregation-prone amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides, which are centrally implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Despite considerable interest in developing γ-secretase targeting therapeutics for the treatment of AD, the precise mechanism by which γ-secretase produces Aβ has remained elusive. Herein, we demonstrate that γ-secretase catalysis is driven by the stabilization of an enzyme-subst ...[more]

PMID: 27580372

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundAlcadein proteins (Alcs; Alc?, Alc?and Alc?) are predominantly expressed in neurons, as is Alzheimer's ?-amyloid (A?) precursor protein (APP). Both Alcs and APP are cleaved by primary ?- or ?-secretase to generate membrane-associated C-terminal fragments (CTFs). Alc CTFs are further cleaved by ?-secretase to secrete p3-Alc peptide along with the release of intracellular domain fragment (Alc ICD) from the membrane. In the case of APP, APP CTF? is initially cleaved at the ?-site to release the intracellular domain fragment (AICD) and consequently the ?-site is determined, by which A? generates. The initial ?-site is thought to define the final ?-site position, which determines whether A?40/43 or A?42 is generated. However, initial intracellular ?-cleavage sites of Alc CTF to generate Alc ICD and the molecular mechanism that final ?-site position is determined remains unclear in Alcs.MethodologyUsing HEK293 cells expressing Alcs plus presenilin 1 (PS1, a catalytic unit of ?-secretase) and the membrane fractions of these cells, the generation of p3-Alc possessing C-terminal ?-cleavage site and Alc ICD possessing N-terminal ?-cleavage site were analysed with MALDI-TOF/MS. We determined the initial ?-site position of all Alc?, Alc? and Alc?, and analyzed the relationship between the initially determined ?-site position and the final ?-cleavage position.ConclusionsThe initial ?-site position does not always determine the final ?-cleavage position in Alcs, which differed from APP. No additional ?-cleavage sites are generated from artificial/non-physiological positions of ?-cleavage for Alcs, while the artificial ?-cleavage positions can influence in selection of physiological ?-site positions. Because alteration of ?-secretase activity is thought to be a pathogenesis of sporadic Alzheimer's disease, Alcs are useful and sensitive substrate to detect the altered cleavage of substrates by ?-secretase, which may be induced by malfunction of ?-secretase itself or changes of membrane environment for enzymatic reaction.

Project description:BackgroundThree amino acid differences between rodent and human APP affect medically important features, including β-secretase cleavage of APP and Aβ peptide aggregation (De Strooper et al., EMBO J 14:4932-38, 1995; Ueno et al., Biochemistry 53:7523-30, 2014; Bush, 2003, Trends Neurosci 26:207-14). Most rodent models for Alzheimer's disease (AD) are, therefore, based on the human APP sequence, expressed from artificial mini-genes randomly inserted in the rodent genome. While these models mimic rather well various biochemical aspects of the disease, such as Aβ-aggregation, they are also prone to overexpression artifacts and to complex phenotypical alterations, due to genes affected in or close to the insertion site(s) of the mini-genes (Sasaguri et al., EMBO J 36:2473-87, 2017; Goodwin et al., Genome Res 29:494-505, 2019). Knock-in strategies which introduce clinical mutants in a humanized endogenous rodent APP sequence (Saito et al., Nat Neurosci 17:661-3, 2014) represent useful improvements, but need to be compared with appropriate humanized wildtype (WT) mice.MethodsComputational modelling of the human β-CTF bound to BACE1 was used to study the differential processing of rodent and human APP. We humanized the three pivotal residues we identified G676R, F681Y and R684H (labeled according to the human APP770 isoform) in the mouse and rat genomes using a CRISPR-Cas9 approach. These new models, termed mouse and rat Apphu/hu, express APP from the endogenous promotor. We also introduced the early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) mutation M139T into the endogenous Rat Psen1 gene.ResultsWe show that introducing these three amino acid substitutions into the rodent sequence lowers the affinity of the APP substrate for BACE1 cleavage. The effect on β-secretase processing was confirmed as both humanized rodent models produce three times more (human) Aβ compared to the original WT strain. These models represent suitable controls, or starting points, for studying the effect of transgenes or knock-in mutations on APP processing (Saito et al., Nat Neurosci 17:661-3, 2014). We introduced the early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) mutation M139T into the endogenous Rat Psen1 gene and provide an initial characterization of Aβ processing in this novel rat AD model.ConclusionThe different humanized APP models (rat and mouse) expressing human Aβ and PSEN1 M139T are valuable controls to study APP processing in vivo allowing the use of a human Aβ ELISA which is more sensitive than the equivalent system for rodents. These animals will be made available to the research community.

Dataset Information

The amyloid-beta forming tripeptide cleavage mechanism of ?-secretase.

Publications

The amyloid-beta forming tripeptide cleavage mechanism of γ-secretase.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets