Tadpole-like conformations of polyglutamine-expanded soluble huntingtin exon 1 engenders novel interactions
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ABSTRACT: Soluble huntingtin exon 1 (Httex1) with expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) engenders neurotoxicity in Huntington’s disease. To understand the structural basis of this toxicity, we characterized the structure of monomeric Httex1 for two polyQ lengths using hydrogen-deuterium exchange and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. NMR analysis of Httex1 with polyQ length of 25 glutamines showed the presence of helical structure in the N-terminal region which continued into the polyQ tract. Within these regions the 15N{1H} NOE averages about 0.4, consistent with a protein that lacks structure, but also consistent with Httex1 being not fully disordered. However, both NMR and mass spectrometry hydrogen-deuterium exchange experiments showed no protection suggesting a lack of any stabilizing hydrogen bonds. Atomistic simulations showed that these seemingly conflicting features originated from tadpole-like topologies composed of a globular head that included the N-terminal amphipathic region adsorbed on a collapsed polyQ domain and a semi-flexible C-terminal proline-rich region tail. The surface area of the disordered globular domain increased with polyQ length to promote gain-of-function interactions with a range of proteins in a mouse neuroblastoma cell model, which included the stress granule protein Fus. Overexpression of Fus potently reduced toxicity in cells with soluble, polyQ-expanded Httex1. These results collectively suggested that the tadpole-like structure of Httex1 stimulates novel gain-of-function interactions that can be harmful to cell viability and can be sequestered competitively by interactions with other proteins sharing similar low complexity structures such as Fus.
INSTRUMENT(S): Q Exactive
ORGANISM(S): Mus Musculus (mouse)
TISSUE(S): Cell Culture
SUBMITTER: Estella Newcombe
LAB HEAD: Danny Martin Hatters
PROVIDER: PXD006792 | Pride | 2019-11-08
REPOSITORIES: Pride
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