151
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Incongruity between Prion Conversion and Incubation Period following Coinfection. J Virol 2016; 90:5715-23. [PMID: 27053546 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.00409-16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2016] [Accepted: 03/29/2016] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
UNLABELLED When multiple prion strains are inoculated into the same host, they can interfere with each other. Strains with long incubation periods can suppress conversion of strains with short incubation periods; however, nothing is known about the conversion of the long-incubation-period strain during strain interference. To investigate this, we inoculated hamsters in the sciatic nerve with long-incubation-period strain 139H prior to superinfection with the short-incubation-period hyper (HY) strain of transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME). First, we found that 139H is transported along the same neuroanatomical tracks as HY TME, adding to the growing body of evidence indicating that PrP(Sc) favors retrograde transneuronal transport. In contrast to a previous report, we found that 139H interferes with HY TME infection, which is likely due to both strains targeting the same population of neurons following sciatic nerve inoculation. Under conditions where 139H blocked HY TME from causing disease, the strain-specific properties of PrP(Sc) corresponded with the strain that caused disease, consistent with our previous findings. In the groups of animals where incubation periods were not altered, we found that the animals contained a mixture of 139H and HY TME PrP(Sc) This finding expands the definition of strain interference to include conditions where PrP(Sc) formation is altered yet disease outcome is unaltered. Overall, these results contradict the premise that prion strains are static entities and instead suggest that strain mixtures are dynamic regardless of incubation period or clinical outcome of disease. IMPORTANCE Prions can exist as a mixture of strains in naturally infected animals, where they are able to interfere with the conversion of each other and to extend incubation periods. Little is known, however, about the dynamics of strain conversion under conditions where incubation periods are not affected. We found that inoculation of the same animal with two strains can result in the alteration of conversion of both strains under conditions where the resulting disease was consistent with infection with only a single strain. These data challenge the idea that prion strains are static and suggests that strain mixtures are more dynamic than previously appreciated. This observation has significant implications for prion adaptation.
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152
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Sano K, Atarashi R, Nishida N. Structural conservation of prion strain specificities in recombinant prion protein fibrils in real-time quaking-induced conversion. Prion 2016; 9:237-43. [PMID: 26284507 PMCID: PMC4601500 DOI: 10.1080/19336896.2015.1062201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
A major unsolved issue of prion biology is the existence of multiple strains with distinct phenotypes and this strain phenomenon is postulated to be associated with the conformational diversity of the abnormal prion protein (PrPSc). Real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QUIC) assay that uses Escherichia coli-derived recombinant prion protein (rPrP) for the sensitive detection of PrPSc results in the formation of rPrP-fibrils seeded with various strains. We demonstrated that there are differences in the secondary structures, especially in the β-sheets, and conformational stability between 2 rPrP-fibrils seeded with either Chandler or 22L strains in the first round of RT-QUIC. In particular, the differences in conformational properties of these 2 rPrP-fibrils were common to those of the original PrPSc. However, the strain specificities of rPrP-fibrils seen in the first round were lost in subsequent rounds. Instead, our findings suggest that nonspecific fibrils became the major species, probable owing to their selective growth advantage in the RT-QUIC. This study shows that at least some strain-specific conformational properties of the original PrPSc can be transmitted to rPrP-fibrils in vitro, but further conservation appears to require unknown cofactors or environmental conditions or both.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazunori Sano
- a Department of Physiology and Pharmacology; Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Fukuoka University ; Fukuoka, Japan
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153
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Properzi F, Badhan A, Klier S, Schmidt C, Klöhn PC, Wadsworth JDF, Clarke AR, Jackson GS, Collinge J. Physical, chemical and kinetic factors affecting prion infectivity. Prion 2016; 10:251-61. [PMID: 27282252 PMCID: PMC4981209 DOI: 10.1080/19336896.2016.1181250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The mouse-adapted scrapie prion strain RML is one of the most widely used in prion research. The introduction of a cell culture-based assay of RML prions, the scrapie cell assay (SCA) allows more rapid and precise prion titration. A semi-automated version of this assay (ASCA) was applied to explore a range of conditions that might influence the infectivity and properties of RML prions. These include resistance to freeze-thaw procedures; stability to endogenous proteases in brain homogenate despite prolonged exposure to varying temperatures; distribution of infective material between pellet and supernatant after centrifugation, the effect of reducing agents and the influence of detergent additives on the efficiency of infection. Apparent infectivity is increased significantly by interaction with cationic detergents. Importantly, we have also elucidated the relationship between the duration of exposure of cells to RML prions and the transmission of infection. We established that the infection process following contact of cells with RML prions is rapid and followed an exponential time course, implying a single rate-limiting process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Properzi
- a MRC Prion Unit, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease , UCL Institute of Neurology , London , UK
| | - Anjna Badhan
- a MRC Prion Unit, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease , UCL Institute of Neurology , London , UK
| | - Steffi Klier
- a MRC Prion Unit, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease , UCL Institute of Neurology , London , UK
| | - Christian Schmidt
- a MRC Prion Unit, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease , UCL Institute of Neurology , London , UK
| | - Peter C Klöhn
- a MRC Prion Unit, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease , UCL Institute of Neurology , London , UK
| | - Jonathan D F Wadsworth
- a MRC Prion Unit, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease , UCL Institute of Neurology , London , UK
| | - Anthony R Clarke
- a MRC Prion Unit, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease , UCL Institute of Neurology , London , UK
| | - Graham S Jackson
- a MRC Prion Unit, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease , UCL Institute of Neurology , London , UK
| | - John Collinge
- a MRC Prion Unit, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease , UCL Institute of Neurology , London , UK
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154
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Huang YW, Chang YC, Diaz-Avalos R, King CY. W8, a new Sup35 prion strain, transmits distinctive information with a conserved assembly scheme. Prion 2016; 9:207-27. [PMID: 26038983 DOI: 10.1080/19336896.2015.1039217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Prion strains are different self-propagating conformers of the same infectious protein. Three strains of the [PSI] prion, infectious forms of the yeast Sup35 protein, have been previously characterized in our laboratory. Here we report the discovery of a new [PSI] strain, named W8. We demonstrate its robust cellular propagation as well as the protein-only transmission. To reveal strain-specific sequence requirement, mutations that interfered with the propagation of W8 were identified by consecutive substitution of residues 5-55 of Sup35 by proline and insertion of glycine at alternate sites in this segment. Interestingly, propagating W8 with single mutations at residues 5-7 and around residue 43 caused the strain to transmute. In contrast to the assertion that [PSI] existed as a dynamic cloud of sub-structures, no random drift in transmission characteristics was detected in mitotically propagated W8 populations. Electron diffraction and mass-per-length measurements indicate that, similar to the 3 previously characterized strains, W8 fibers are composed of about 1 prion molecule per 4.7-Å cross-β repeat period. Thus differently folded single Sup35 molecules, not dimeric and trimeric assemblies, form the basic repeating units to build the 4 [PSI] strains.
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Key Words
- 5-FOA, 5-fluoroorotic acid
- Aβ, amyloid β-protein
- GFP, green fluorescent protein
- PrP, prion protein
- SC, synthetic complete
- STEM, scanning transmission electron microscopy
- YPD, yeast extract, peptone, dextrose
- amyloid, prion strain, [PSI+], SUP35, yeast
- mpl, mass per length
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Wen Huang
- a Molecular and Cell Biology; Taiwan International Graduate Program; Academia Sinica and National Defense Medical Center ; Taipei , Taiwan
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155
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Massignan T, Cimini S, Stincardini C, Cerovic M, Vanni I, Elezgarai SR, Moreno J, Stravalaci M, Negro A, Sangiovanni V, Restelli E, Riccardi G, Gobbi M, Castilla J, Borsello T, Nonno R, Biasini E. A cationic tetrapyrrole inhibits toxic activities of the cellular prion protein. Sci Rep 2016; 6:23180. [PMID: 26976106 PMCID: PMC4791597 DOI: 10.1038/srep23180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2015] [Accepted: 02/29/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Prion diseases are rare neurodegenerative conditions associated with the conformational conversion of the cellular prion protein (PrPC) into PrPSc, a self-replicating isoform (prion) that accumulates in the central nervous system of affected individuals. The structure of PrPSc is poorly defined, and likely to be heterogeneous, as suggested by the existence of different prion strains. The latter represents a relevant problem for therapy in prion diseases, as some potent anti-prion compounds have shown strain-specificity. Designing therapeutics that target PrPC may provide an opportunity to overcome these problems. PrPC ligands may theoretically inhibit the replication of multiple prion strains, by acting on the common substrate of any prion replication reaction. Here, we characterized the properties of a cationic tetrapyrrole [Fe(III)-TMPyP], which was previously shown to bind PrPC, and inhibit the replication of a mouse prion strain. We report that the compound is active against multiple prion strains in vitro and in cells. Interestingly, we also find that Fe(III)-TMPyP inhibits several PrPC-related toxic activities, including the channel-forming ability of a PrP mutant, and the PrPC-dependent synaptotoxicity of amyloid-β (Aβ) oligomers, which are associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. These results demonstrate that molecules binding to PrPC may produce a dual effect of blocking prion replication and inhibiting PrPC-mediated toxicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tania Massignan
- Department of Molecular Biochemistry and Pharmacology, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, 20156 Milan, Italy.,Dulbecco Telethon Institute, Laboratory of Prions and Amyloids, Centre for Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento, 38123 Trento, Italy
| | - Sara Cimini
- Department of Neuroscience, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, 20156 Milan, Italy
| | - Claudia Stincardini
- Dulbecco Telethon Institute, Laboratory of Prions and Amyloids, Centre for Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento, 38123 Trento, Italy
| | - Milica Cerovic
- Department of Neuroscience, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, 20156 Milan, Italy
| | - Ilaria Vanni
- Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Saioa R Elezgarai
- Department of Molecular Biochemistry and Pharmacology, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, 20156 Milan, Italy.,Dulbecco Telethon Institute, Laboratory of Prions and Amyloids, Centre for Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento, 38123 Trento, Italy
| | - Jorge Moreno
- CIC bioGUNE, Parque tecnológico de Bizkaia, Derio 48160, Bizkaia, Spain
| | - Matteo Stravalaci
- Department of Molecular Biochemistry and Pharmacology, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, 20156 Milan, Italy
| | - Alessandro Negro
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, 35121 Padova, Italy
| | - Valeria Sangiovanni
- Dulbecco Telethon Institute, Laboratory of Prions and Amyloids, Centre for Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento, 38123 Trento, Italy
| | - Elena Restelli
- Department of Neuroscience, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, 20156 Milan, Italy
| | - Geraldina Riccardi
- Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Marco Gobbi
- Department of Molecular Biochemistry and Pharmacology, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, 20156 Milan, Italy
| | - Joaquín Castilla
- CIC bioGUNE, Parque tecnológico de Bizkaia, Derio 48160, Bizkaia, Spain.,IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao 48013, Bizkaia, Spain
| | - Tiziana Borsello
- Department of Neuroscience, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, 20156 Milan, Italy.,Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, Milan University, 20133 Milan Italy
| | - Romolo Nonno
- Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, 00161 Rome, Italy
| | - Emiliano Biasini
- Department of Neuroscience, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, 20156 Milan, Italy.,Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanitá, 00161 Rome, Italy.,Dulbecco Telethon Institute, Laboratory of Prions and Amyloids, Centre for Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento, 38123 Trento, Italy
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156
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Wickner RB, Kelly AC. Prions are affected by evolution at two levels. Cell Mol Life Sci 2016; 73:1131-44. [PMID: 26713322 PMCID: PMC4762734 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-015-2109-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2015] [Revised: 11/30/2015] [Accepted: 12/01/2015] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Prions, infectious proteins, can transmit diseases or be the basis of heritable traits (or both), mostly based on amyloid forms of the prion protein. A single protein sequence can be the basis for many prion strains/variants, with different biological properties based on different amyloid conformations, each rather stably propagating. Prions are unique in that evolution and selection work at both the level of the chromosomal gene encoding the protein, and on the prion itself selecting prion variants. Here, we summarize what is known about the evolution of prion proteins, both the genes and the prions themselves. We contrast the one known functional prion, [Het-s] of Podospora anserina, with the known disease prions, the yeast prions [PSI+] and [URE3] and the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies of mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reed B Wickner
- Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bldg. 8, Room 225, 8 Center Drive MSC 0830, Bethesda, MD, 20892-0830, USA.
| | - Amy C Kelly
- Laboratory of Biochemistry and Genetics, National Institute of Diabetes Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bldg. 8, Room 225, 8 Center Drive MSC 0830, Bethesda, MD, 20892-0830, USA.
- NCAUR, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1815 N. University St., Peoria, IL, 61604, USA.
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157
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Imberdis T, Harris DA. Synthetic Prions Provide Clues for Understanding Prion Diseases. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PATHOLOGY 2016; 186:761-4. [PMID: 26854642 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2015.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2015] [Accepted: 12/19/2015] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
This Commentary highlights the article by Makarava et al that discusses the formation of synthetic prions and the role of substrate levels in their evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thibaut Imberdis
- Department of Biochemistry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - David A Harris
- Department of Biochemistry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
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158
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Chapuis J, Moudjou M, Reine F, Herzog L, Jaumain E, Chapuis C, Quadrio I, Boulliat J, Perret-Liaudet A, Dron M, Laude H, Rezaei H, Béringue V. Emergence of two prion subtypes in ovine PrP transgenic mice infected with human MM2-cortical Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease prions. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2016; 4:10. [PMID: 26847207 PMCID: PMC4743415 DOI: 10.1186/s40478-016-0284-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2016] [Accepted: 01/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Mammalian prions are proteinaceous pathogens responsible for a broad range of fatal neurodegenerative diseases in humans and animals. These diseases can occur spontaneously, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, or be acquired or inherited. Prions are primarily formed of macromolecular assemblies of the disease-associated prion protein PrPSc, a misfolded isoform of the host-encoded prion protein PrPC. Within defined host-species, prions can exist as conformational variants or strains. Based on both the M/V polymorphism at codon 129 of PrP and the electrophoretic signature of PrPSc in the brain, sporadic CJD is classified in different subtypes, which may encode different strains. A transmission barrier, the mechanism of which remains unknown, limits prion cross-species propagation. To adapt to the new host, prions have the capacity to ‘mutate’ conformationally, leading to the emergence of a variant with new biological properties. Here, we transmitted experimentally one rare subtype of human CJD, designated cortical MM2 (129 MM with type 2 PrPSc), to transgenic mice overexpressing either human or the VRQ allele of ovine PrPC. Results In marked contrast with the reported absence of transmission to knock-in mice expressing physiological levels of human PrP, this subtype transmitted faithfully to mice overexpressing human PrP, and exhibited unique strain features. Onto the ovine PrP sequence, the cortical MM2 subtype abruptly evolved on second passage, thereby allowing emergence of a pair of strain variants with distinct PrPSc biochemical characteristics and differing tropism for the central and lymphoid tissues. These two strain components exhibited remarkably distinct replicative properties in cell-free amplification assay, allowing the ‘physical’ cloning of the minor, lymphotropic component, and subsequent isolation in ovine PrP mice and RK13 cells. Conclusions Here, we provide in-depth assessment of the transmissibility and evolution of one rare subtype of sporadic CJD upon homologous and heterologous transmission. The notion that the environment or matrix where replication is occurring is key to the selection and preferential amplification of prion substrain components raises new questions on the determinants of prion replication within and between species. These data also further interrogate on the interplay between animal and human prions. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40478-016-0284-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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159
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Wickner RB, Edskes HK, Gorkovskiy A, Bezsonov EE, Stroobant EE. Yeast and Fungal Prions: Amyloid-Handling Systems, Amyloid Structure, and Prion Biology. ADVANCES IN GENETICS 2016; 93:191-236. [PMID: 26915272 PMCID: PMC9432818 DOI: 10.1016/bs.adgen.2015.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Yeast prions (infectious proteins) were discovered by their outré genetic properties and have become important models for an array of human prion and amyloid diseases. A single prion protein can become any of many distinct amyloid forms (called prion variants or strains), each of which is self-propagating, but with different biological properties (eg, lethal vs mild). The folded in-register parallel β sheet architecture of the yeast prion amyloids naturally suggests a mechanism by which prion variant information can be faithfully transmitted for many generations. The yeast prions rely on cellular chaperones for their propagation, but can be cured by various chaperone imbalances. The Btn2/Cur1 system normally cures most variants of the [URE3] prion that arise. Although most variants of the [PSI+] and [URE3] prions are toxic or lethal, some are mild in their effects. Even the most mild forms of these prions are rare in the wild, indicating that they too are detrimental to yeast. The beneficial [Het-s] prion of Podospora anserina poses an important contrast in its structure, biology, and evolution to the yeast prions characterized thus far.
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Affiliation(s)
- R B Wickner
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - H K Edskes
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - A Gorkovskiy
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - E E Bezsonov
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - E E Stroobant
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
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160
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Torrent J, Lange R, Igel-Egalon A, Béringue V, Rezaei H. Getting to the core of prion superstructural variability. Prion 2015; 10:1-8. [PMID: 26636374 PMCID: PMC4981190 DOI: 10.1080/19336896.2015.1122161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The phenomenon of protein superstructural polymorphism has become the subject of increased research activity. Besides the relevance to explain the existence of multiple prion strains, such activity is partly driven by the recent finding that in many age-related neurodegenerative diseases highly ordered self-associated forms of peptides and proteins might be the structural basis of prion-like processes and strains giving rise to different disease phenotypes. Biophysical studies of prion strains have been hindered by a lack of tools to characterize inherently noncrystalline, heterogeneous and insoluble proteins. A description of the pressure response of prion quaternary structures might change this picture. This is because applying pressure induces quaternary structural changes of PrP, such as misfolding and self-assembly. From the thermodynamics of these processes, structural features in terms of associated volume changes can then be deduced. We suggest that conformation-enciphered prion strains can be distinguished in terms of voids in the interfaces of the constituting PrP protomers and thus in their volumetric properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joan Torrent
- a Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, UR892, Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires , Jouy-en-Josas , France
| | - Reinhard Lange
- b Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, UMR1208, Ingénierie des Agropolymères et Technologies Emergentes, Université Montpellier , Montpellier , France
| | - Angelique Igel-Egalon
- a Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, UR892, Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires , Jouy-en-Josas , France
| | - Vincent Béringue
- a Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, UR892, Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires , Jouy-en-Josas , France
| | - Human Rezaei
- a Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, UR892, Virologie Immunologie Moléculaires , Jouy-en-Josas , France
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161
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Katorcha E, Makarava N, Savtchenko R, Baskakov IV. Sialylation of the prion protein glycans controls prion replication rate and glycoform ratio. Sci Rep 2015; 5:16912. [PMID: 26576925 PMCID: PMC4649626 DOI: 10.1038/srep16912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2015] [Accepted: 10/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Prion or PrP(Sc) is a proteinaceous infectious agent that consists of a misfolded and aggregated form of a sialoglycoprotein called prion protein or PrP(C). PrP(C) has two sialylated N-linked carbohydrates. In PrP(Sc), the glycans are directed outward, with the terminal sialic acid residues creating a negative charge on the surface of prion particles. The current study proposes a new hypothesis that electrostatic repulsion between sialic residues creates structural constraints that control prion replication and PrP(Sc) glycoform ratio. In support of this hypothesis, here we show that diglycosylated PrP(C) molecules that have more sialic groups per molecule than monoglycosylated PrP(C) were preferentially excluded from conversion. However, when partially desialylated PrP(C) was used as a substrate, recruitment of three glycoforms into PrP(Sc) was found to be proportional to their respective populations in the substrate. In addition, hypersialylated molecules were also excluded from conversion in the strains with the strongest structural constraints, a strategy that helped reduce electrostatic repulsion. Moreover, as predicted by the hypothesis, partial desialylation of PrP(C) significantly increased the replication rate. This study illustrates that sialylation of N-linked glycans creates a prion replication barrier that controls replication rate and glycoform ratios and has broad implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizaveta Katorcha
- Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, 21201 United States of America.,Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Natallia Makarava
- Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, 21201 United States of America.,Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Regina Savtchenko
- Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, 21201 United States of America.,Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Ilia V Baskakov
- Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, 21201 United States of America.,Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
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162
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Methods for Differentiating Prion Types in Food-Producing Animals. BIOLOGY 2015; 4:785-813. [PMID: 26580664 PMCID: PMC4690018 DOI: 10.3390/biology4040785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2015] [Revised: 10/29/2015] [Accepted: 11/04/2015] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
Prions are an enigma amongst infectious disease agents as they lack a genome yet confer specific pathologies thought to be dictated mainly, if not solely, by the conformation of the disease form of the prion protein (PrPSc). Prion diseases affect humans and animals, the latter including the food-producing ruminant species cattle, sheep, goats and deer. Importantly, it has been shown that the disease agent of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is zoonotic, causing variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans. Current diagnostic tests can distinguish different prion types and in food-producing animals these focus on the differentiation of BSE from the non-zoonotic agents. Whilst BSE cases are now rare, atypical forms of both scrapie and BSE have been reported, as well as two types of chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids. Typing of animal prion isolates remains an important aspect of prion diagnosis and is now becoming more focused on identifying the range of prion types that are present in food-producing animals and also developing tests that can screen for emerging, novel prion diseases. Here, we review prion typing methodologies in light of current and emerging prion types in food-producing animals.
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163
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Sharma A, Bruce KL, Chen B, Gyoneva S, Behrens SH, Bommarius AS, Chernoff YO. Contributions of the Prion Protein Sequence, Strain, and Environment to the Species Barrier. J Biol Chem 2015; 291:1277-88. [PMID: 26565023 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m115.684100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Amyloid propagation requires high levels of sequence specificity so that only molecules with very high sequence identity can form cross-β-sheet structures of sufficient stringency for incorporation into the amyloid fibril. This sequence specificity presents a barrier to the transmission of prions between two species with divergent sequences, termed a species barrier. Here we study the relative effects of protein sequence, seed conformation, and environment on the species barrier strength and specificity for the yeast prion protein Sup35p from three closely related species of the Saccharomyces sensu stricto group; namely, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces bayanus, and Saccharomyces paradoxus. Through in vivo plasmid shuffle experiments, we show that the major characteristics of the transmission barrier and conformational fidelity are determined by the protein sequence rather than by the cellular environment. In vitro data confirm that the kinetics and structural preferences of aggregation of the S. paradoxus and S. bayanus proteins are influenced by anions in accordance with their positions in the Hofmeister series, as observed previously for S. cerevisiae. However, the specificity of the species barrier is primarily affected by the sequence and the type of anion present during the formation of the initial seed, whereas anions present during the seeded aggregation process typically influence kinetics rather than the specificity of prion conversion. Therefore, our work shows that the protein sequence and the conformation variant (strain) of the prion seed are the primary determinants of cross-species prion specificity both in vivo and in vitro.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aditi Sharma
- From the Schools of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and
| | - Kathryn L Bruce
- Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 and
| | - Buxin Chen
- Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 and
| | - Stefka Gyoneva
- Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 and
| | - Sven H Behrens
- From the Schools of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and
| | | | - Yury O Chernoff
- Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 and the Laboratory of Amyloid Biology and Institute of Translational Biomedicine, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg 199034, Russia
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164
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Makarava N, Savtchenko R, Baskakov IV. Two alternative pathways for generating transmissible prion disease de novo. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2015; 3:69. [PMID: 26556038 PMCID: PMC4641408 DOI: 10.1186/s40478-015-0248-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2015] [Accepted: 10/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Previous studies established that prion disease with unique strain-specific phenotypes could be induced by in vitro-formed recombinant PrP (rPrP) fibrils with structures different from that of authentic prions, or PrPSc. To explain the etiology of prion diseases, new mechanism proposed that in animals the transition from rPrP fibrils to PrPSc consists of two main steps: the first involves fibril-induced formation of atypical PrPres, a self-replicating but clinically silent state, and the second consists of atypical PrPres-dependent formation of PrPSc via rare deformed templating events. Results In the current study, atypical PrPres with characteristics similar to those of brain-derived atypical PrPres was generated in vitro. Upon inoculation into animals, in vitro-generated atypical PrPres gave rise to PrPSc and prion disease with a phenotype similar to those induced by rPrP fibrils. Significant differences in the sialylation pattern between atypical PrPres and PrPSc suggested that only a small sub-fraction of the PrPC that is acceptable as a substrate for PrPSc could be also recruited by atypical PrPres. This can explain why atypical PrPres replicates slower than PrPSc and why PrPSc outcompetes atypical PrPres. Conclusions This study illustrates that transmissible prion diseases with very similar disease phenotypes could be produced via two alternative procedures: direct inoculation of recombinant PrP amyloid fibrils or in vitro-produced atypical PrPres. Moreover, this work showed that preparations of atypical PrPres free of PrPSc can give rise to transmissible diseases in wild type animals and that atypical PrPres generated in vitro is an adequate model for brain-derived atypical PrPres. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40478-015-0248-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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165
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Baer B, Millar AH. Proteomics in evolutionary ecology. J Proteomics 2015; 135:4-11. [PMID: 26453985 DOI: 10.1016/j.jprot.2015.09.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2015] [Revised: 09/22/2015] [Accepted: 09/30/2015] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Evolutionary ecologists are traditionally gene-focused, as genes propagate phenotypic traits across generations and mutations and recombination in the DNA generate genetic diversity required for evolutionary processes. As a consequence, the inheritance of changed DNA provides a molecular explanation for the functional changes associated with natural selection. A direct focus on proteins on the other hand, the actual molecular agents responsible for the expression of a phenotypic trait, receives far less interest from ecologists and evolutionary biologists. This is partially due to the central dogma of molecular biology that appears to define proteins as the 'dead-end of molecular information flow' as well as technical limitations in identifying and studying proteins and their diversity in the field and in many of the more exotic genera often favored in ecological studies. Here we provide an overview of a newly forming field of research that we refer to as 'Evolutionary Proteomics'. We point out that the origins of cellular function are related to the properties of polypeptide and RNA and their interactions with the environment, rather than DNA descent, and that the critical role of horizontal gene transfer in evolution is more about coopting new proteins to impact cellular processes than it is about modifying gene function. Furthermore, post-transcriptional and post-translational processes generate a remarkable diversity of mature proteins from a single gene, and the properties of these mature proteins can also influence inheritance through genetic and perhaps epigenetic mechanisms. The influence of post-transcriptional diversification on evolutionary processes could provide a novel mechanistic underpinning for elements of rapid, directed evolutionary changes and adaptations as observed for a variety of evolutionary processes. Modern state-of the art technologies based on mass spectrometry are now available to identify and quantify peptides, proteins, protein modifications and protein interactions of interest with high accuracy and assess protein diversity and function. Therefore, proteomic technologies can be viewed as providing evolutionary biologist with exciting novel opportunities to understand very early events in functional variation of cellular molecular machinery that are acting as part of evolutionary processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Baer
- Centre for Integrative Bee Research (CIBER) and ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Bayliss Building, The University of Western Australia, 6009 Crawley, Australia.
| | - A H Millar
- Centre for Integrative Bee Research (CIBER) and ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Bayliss Building, The University of Western Australia, 6009 Crawley, Australia
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166
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Shikiya RA, Eckland TE, Young AJ, Bartz JC. Prion formation, but not clearance, is supported by protein misfolding cyclic amplification. Prion 2015; 8:415-20. [PMID: 25482601 DOI: 10.4161/19336896.2014.983759] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Prion diseases are fatal transmissible neurodegenerative disorders that affect animals including humans. The kinetics of prion infectivity and PrP(Sc) accumulation can differ between prion strains and within a single strain in different tissues. The net accumulation of PrP(Sc) in animals is controlled by the relationship between the rate of PrP(Sc) formation and clearance. Protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) is a powerful technique that faithfully recapitulates PrP(Sc) formation and prion infectivity in a cell-free system. PMCA has been used as a surrogate for animal bioassay and can model species barriers, host range, strain co-factors and strain interference. In this study we investigated if degradation of PrP(Sc) and/or prion infectivity occurs during PMCA. To accomplish this we performed PMCA under conditions that do not support PrP(Sc) formation and did not observe either a reduction in PrP(Sc) abundance or an extension of prion incubation period, compared to untreated control samples. These results indicate that prion clearance does not occur during PMCA. These data have significant implications for the interpretation of PMCA based experiments such as prion amplification rate, adaptation to new species and strain interference where production and clearance of prions can affect the outcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ronald A Shikiya
- a Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology ; School of Medicine; Creighton University ; Omaha, NE USA
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168
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Sneideris T, Milto K, Smirnovas V. Polymorphism of amyloid-like fibrils can be defined by the concentration of seeds. PeerJ 2015; 3:e1207. [PMID: 26355941 PMCID: PMC4563235 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2015] [Accepted: 08/01/2015] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Prions are infectious proteins where the same protein may express distinct strains. The strains are enciphered by different misfolded conformations. Strain-like phenomena have also been reported in a number of other amyloid-forming proteins. One of the features of amyloid strains is the ability to self-propagate, maintaining a constant set of physical properties despite being propagated under conditions different from those that allowed initial formation of the strain. Here we report a cross-seeding experiment using strains formed under different conditions. Using high concentrations of seeds results in rapid elongation and new fibrils preserve the properties of the seeding fibrils. At low seed concentrations, secondary nucleation plays the major role and new fibrils gain properties predicted by the environment rather than the structure of the seeds. Our findings could explain conformational switching between amyloid strains observed in a wide variety of in vivo and in vitro experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomas Sneideris
- Department of Biothermodynamics and Drug Design, Vilnius University, Institute of Biotechnology, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Katažyna Milto
- Department of Biothermodynamics and Drug Design, Vilnius University, Institute of Biotechnology, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Vytautas Smirnovas
- Department of Biothermodynamics and Drug Design, Vilnius University, Institute of Biotechnology, Vilnius, Lithuania
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169
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Abstract
A prion is an infectious protein horizontally transmitting a disease or trait without a required nucleic acid. Yeast and fungal prions are nonchromosomal genes composed of protein, generally an altered form of a protein that catalyzes the same alteration of the protein. Yeast prions are thus transmitted both vertically (as genes composed of protein) and horizontally (as infectious proteins, or prions). Formation of amyloids (linear ordered β-sheet-rich protein aggregates with β-strands perpendicular to the long axis of the filament) underlies most yeast and fungal prions, and a single prion protein can have any of several distinct self-propagating amyloid forms with different biological properties (prion variants). Here we review the mechanism of faithful templating of protein conformation, the biological roles of these prions, and their interactions with cellular chaperones, the Btn2 and Cur1 aggregate-handling systems, and other cellular factors governing prion generation and propagation. Human amyloidoses include the PrP-based prion conditions and many other, more common amyloid-based diseases, several of which show prion-like features. Yeast prions increasingly are serving as models for the understanding and treatment of many mammalian amyloidoses. Patients with different clinical pictures of the same amyloidosis may be the equivalent of yeasts with different prion variants.
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170
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Transmission Properties of Human PrP 102L Prions Challenge the Relevance of Mouse Models of GSS. PLoS Pathog 2015; 11:e1004953. [PMID: 26135918 PMCID: PMC4489887 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2015] [Accepted: 05/13/2015] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Inherited prion disease (IPD) is caused by autosomal-dominant pathogenic mutations in the human prion protein (PrP) gene (PRNP). A proline to leucine substitution at PrP residue 102 (P102L) is classically associated with Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker (GSS) disease but shows marked clinical and neuropathological variability within kindreds that may be caused by variable propagation of distinct prion strains generated from either PrP 102L or wild type PrP. To-date the transmission properties of prions propagated in P102L patients remain ill-defined. Multiple mouse models of GSS have focused on mutating the corresponding residue of murine PrP (P101L), however murine PrP 101L, a novel PrP primary structure, may not have the repertoire of pathogenic prion conformations necessary to accurately model the human disease. Here we describe the transmission properties of prions generated in human PrP 102L expressing transgenic mice that were generated after primary challenge with ex vivo human GSS P102L or classical CJD prions. We show that distinct strains of prions were generated in these mice dependent upon source of the inoculum (either GSS P102L or CJD brain) and have designated these GSS-102L and CJD-102L prions, respectively. GSS-102L prions have transmission properties distinct from all prion strains seen in sporadic and acquired human prion disease. Significantly, GSS-102L prions appear incapable of transmitting disease to conventional mice expressing wild type mouse PrP, which contrasts strikingly with the reported transmission properties of prions generated in GSS P102L-challenged mice expressing mouse PrP 101L. We conclude that future transgenic modeling of IPDs should focus exclusively on expression of mutant human PrP, as other approaches may generate novel experimental prion strains that are unrelated to human disease. Inherited prion disease (IPD) is caused by pathogenic mutations in the human prion protein (PrP) gene leading to the formation of lethal prions in the brain. To-date the properties of prions causing IPD and their similarities to prions causing other forms of human prion disease remain ill-defined. In the present study we have investigated the properties of prions seen in patients with Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker (GSS) disease associated with the substitution of leucine for proline at amino acid position 102 (GSS P102L). We examined the ability of these prions to infect transgenic mice expressing human mutant 102L PrP, human wild-type PrP or wild-type mice. We found that GSS-102L prions have properties distinct from other types of human prions by showing that they can only infect transgenic mice expressing human PrP carrying the same mutation. Mice expressing wild-type human PrP or wild-type mouse PrP were entirely resistant to infection with GSS-102L prions. We conclude that accurate modeling of inherited prion disease requires the expression of authentic mutant human PrP in transgenic models, as other approaches may generate results that do not mirror the human disease.
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171
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Wang X, McGovern G, Zhang Y, Wang F, Zha L, Jeffrey M, Ma J. Intraperitoneal Infection of Wild-Type Mice with Synthetically Generated Mammalian Prion. PLoS Pathog 2015; 11:e1004958. [PMID: 26136122 PMCID: PMC4489884 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004958] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2014] [Accepted: 05/14/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The prion hypothesis postulates that the infectious agent in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) is an unorthodox protein conformation based agent. Recent successes in generating mammalian prions in vitro with bacterially expressed recombinant prion protein provide strong support for the hypothesis. However, whether the pathogenic properties of synthetically generated prion (rec-Prion) recapitulate those of naturally occurring prions remains unresolved. Using end-point titration assay, we showed that the in vitro prepared rec-Prions have infectious titers of around 104 LD50 / μg. In addition, intraperitoneal (i.p.) inoculation of wild-type mice with rec-Prion caused prion disease with an average survival time of 210 – 220 days post inoculation. Detailed pathological analyses revealed that the nature of rec-Prion induced lesions, including spongiform change, disease specific prion protein accumulation (PrP-d) and the PrP-d dissemination amongst lymphoid and peripheral nervous system tissues, the route and mechanisms of neuroinvasion were all typical of classical rodent prions. Our results revealed that, similar to naturally occurring prions, the rec-Prion has a titratable infectivity and is capable of causing prion disease via routes other than direct intra-cerebral challenge. More importantly, our results established that the rec-Prion caused disease is pathogenically and pathologically identical to naturally occurring contagious TSEs, supporting the concept that a conformationally altered protein agent is responsible for the infectivity in TSEs. The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are a group of infectious neurodegenerative diseases affecting both humans and animals. The prion hypothesis postulates that prions are protein conformation based infectious agents responsible for TSE infectivity. Prions have been synthetically generated in vitro, but it remains unclear whether the properties of synthetically generated prion are the same as those of TSE agents and whether the disease caused by synthetically generated prion is identical to naturally occurring TSEs. In this study, we demonstrated that similar to the classical TSE agents, the synthetically generated prion has a titratable infectivity and is able to cause prion disease in wild-type mice via routes other than direct intra-cerebral inoculation. More importantly, we showed that the synthetically generated prion induced pathological changes, including the dissemination of disease-specific prion protein accumulation and the route and mechanism of neuroinvasion, were all typical of classical TSEs. These results demonstrate the similarity of synthetically generated prion to the infectious agent in TSEs, providing strong evidence supporting the prion hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinhe Wang
- Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States of America
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Gillian McGovern
- Animal and Plant Health Agency, Lasswade Laboratory, Pentlands Science Park, Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland
| | - Yi Zhang
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (East China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (East China Normal University), School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Fei Wang
- Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States of America
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Liang Zha
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Martin Jeffrey
- Animal and Plant Health Agency, Lasswade Laboratory, Pentlands Science Park, Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland
| | - Jiyan Ma
- Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States of America
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (East China Normal University), Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (East China Normal University), School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
- * E-mail:
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173
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Race B, Phillips K, Meade-White K, Striebel J, Chesebro B. Increased infectivity of anchorless mouse scrapie prions in transgenic mice overexpressing human prion protein. J Virol 2015; 89:6022-32. [PMID: 25810548 PMCID: PMC4442444 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.00362-15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2015] [Accepted: 03/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
UNLABELLED Prion protein (PrP) is found in all mammals, mostly as a glycoprotein anchored to the plasma membrane by a C-terminal glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) linkage. Following prion infection, host protease-sensitive prion protein (PrPsen or PrPC) is converted into an abnormal, disease-associated, protease-resistant form (PrPres). Biochemical characteristics, such as the PrP amino acid sequence, and posttranslational modifications, such as glycosylation and GPI anchoring, can affect the transmissibility of prions as well as the biochemical properties of the PrPres generated. Previous in vivo studies on the effects of GPI anchoring on prion infectivity have not examined cross-species transmission. In this study, we tested the effect of lack of GPI anchoring on a species barrier model using mice expressing human PrP. In this model, anchorless 22L prions derived from tg44 mice were more infectious than 22L prions derived from C57BL/10 mice when tested in tg66 transgenic mice, which expressed wild-type anchored human PrP at 8- to 16-fold above normal. Thus, the lack of the GPI anchor on the PrPres from tg44 mice appeared to reduce the effect of the mouse-human PrP species barrier. In contrast, neither source of prions induced disease in tgRM transgenic mice, which expressed human PrP at 2- to 4-fold above normal. IMPORTANCE Prion protein (PrP) is found in all mammals, usually attached to cells by an anchor molecule called GPI. Following prion infection, PrP is converted into a disease-associated form (PrPres). While most prion diseases are species specific, this finding is not consistent, and species barriers differ in strength. The amino acid sequence of PrP varies among species, and this variability affects prion species barriers. However, other PrP modifications, including glycosylation and GPI anchoring, may also influence cross-species infectivity. We studied the effect of PrP GPI anchoring using a mouse-to-human species barrier model. Experiments showed that prions produced by mice expressing only anchorless PrP were more infectious than prions produced in mice expressing anchored PrP. Thus, the lack of the GPI anchor on prions reduced the effect of the mouse-human species barrier. Our results suggest that prion diseases that produce higher levels of anchorless PrP may pose an increased risk for cross-species infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brent Race
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, USA
| | - Katie Phillips
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, USA
| | - Kimberly Meade-White
- Rocky Mountain Veterinary Branch, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, USA
| | - James Striebel
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, USA
| | - Bruce Chesebro
- Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana, USA
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Si CM, Mao ZY, Dong HQ, Du ZT, Wei BG, Lin GQ. Divergent Method to trans-5-Hydroxy-6-alkynyl/alkenyl-2-piperidinones: Syntheses of (−)-Epiquinamide and (+)-Swainsonine. J Org Chem 2015; 80:5824-33. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.5b00803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Chang-Mei Si
- School
of Pharmacy, Department of Chemistry and Institutes of Biomedical
Sciences, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China
- College
of Science, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Shaanxi Yangling, 712100, China
| | - Zhuo-Ya Mao
- School
of Pharmacy, Department of Chemistry and Institutes of Biomedical
Sciences, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China
- College
of Science, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Shaanxi Yangling, 712100, China
| | - Han-Qing Dong
- Shanghai
Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Zhen-Ting Du
- College
of Science, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Shaanxi Yangling, 712100, China
| | - Bang-Guo Wei
- School
of Pharmacy, Department of Chemistry and Institutes of Biomedical
Sciences, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China
| | - Guo-Qiang Lin
- School
of Pharmacy, Department of Chemistry and Institutes of Biomedical
Sciences, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China
- Shanghai
Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 345 Lingling Road, Shanghai 200032, China
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175
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Chiesa
- Department of Neuroscience, IRCCS–Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Milan, Italy
- * E-mail:
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176
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Smith JE, Liang C, Tseng M, Li N, Li S, Mowles AK, Mehta AK, Lynn DG. Defining the Dynamic Conformational Networks of Cross-β Peptide Assembly. Isr J Chem 2015. [DOI: 10.1002/ijch.201500012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
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177
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Kabir ME, Safar JG. Implications of prion adaptation and evolution paradigm for human neurodegenerative diseases. Prion 2015; 8:111-6. [PMID: 24401672 PMCID: PMC7030914 DOI: 10.4161/pri.27661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
There is a growing body of evidence indicating that number of human neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, fronto-temporal dementias, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, propagate in the brain via prion-like intercellular induction of protein misfolding. Prions cause lethal neurodegenerative diseases in humans, the most prevalent being sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD); they self-replicate and spread by converting the cellular form of prion protein (PrPC) to a misfolded pathogenic conformer (PrPSc). The extensive phenotypic heterogeneity of human prion diseases is determined by polymorphisms in the prion protein gene, and by prion strain-specific conformation of PrPSc. Remarkably, even though informative nucleic acid is absent, prions may undergo rapid adaptation and evolution in cloned cells and upon crossing the species barrier. In the course of our investigation of this process, we isolated distinct populations of PrPSc particles that frequently co-exist in sCJD. The human prion particles replicate independently and undergo competitive selection of those with lower initial conformational stability. Exposed to mutant substrate, the winning PrPSc conformers are subject to further evolution by natural selection of the subpopulation with the highest replication rate due to the lowest stability. Thus, the evolution and adaptation of human prions is enabled by a dynamic collection of distinct populations of particles, whose evolution is governed by the selection of progressively less stable, faster replicating PrPSc conformers. This fundamental biological mechanism may explain the drug resistance that some prions gained after exposure to compounds targeting PrPSc. Whether the phenotypic heterogeneity of other neurodegenerative diseases caused by protein misfolding is determined by the spectrum of misfolded conformers (strains) remains to be established. However, the prospect that these conformers may evolve and adapt by a prion-like mechanism calls for the reevaluation of therapeutic strategies that target aggregates of misfolded proteins, and argues for new therapeutic approaches that will focus on prior pathogenetic steps.
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178
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Prion amplification and hierarchical Bayesian modeling refine detection of prion infection. Sci Rep 2015; 5:8358. [PMID: 25665713 PMCID: PMC5389033 DOI: 10.1038/srep08358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2014] [Accepted: 01/19/2015] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Prions are unique infectious agents that replicate without a genome and cause neurodegenerative diseases that include chronic wasting disease (CWD) of cervids. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is currently considered the gold standard for diagnosis of a prion infection but may be insensitive to early or sub-clinical CWD that are important to understanding CWD transmission and ecology. We assessed the potential of serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification (sPMCA) to improve detection of CWD prior to the onset of clinical signs. We analyzed tissue samples from free-ranging Rocky Mountain elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) and used hierarchical Bayesian analysis to estimate the specificity and sensitivity of IHC and sPMCA conditional on simultaneously estimated disease states. Sensitivity estimates were higher for sPMCA (99.51%, credible interval (CI) 97.15–100%) than IHC of obex (brain stem, 76.56%, CI 57.00–91.46%) or retropharyngeal lymph node (90.06%, CI 74.13–98.70%) tissues, or both (98.99%, CI 90.01–100%). Our hierarchical Bayesian model predicts the prevalence of prion infection in this elk population to be 18.90% (CI 15.50–32.72%), compared to previous estimates of 12.90%. Our data reveal a previously unidentified sub-clinical prion-positive portion of the elk population that could represent silent carriers capable of significantly impacting CWD ecology.
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Abstract
A prion is an infectious protein horizontally transmitting a disease or trait without a required nucleic acid. Yeast and fungal prions are nonchromosomal genes composed of protein, generally an altered form of a protein that catalyzes the same alteration of the protein. Yeast prions are thus transmitted both vertically (as genes composed of protein) and horizontally (as infectious proteins, or prions). Formation of amyloids (linear ordered β-sheet-rich protein aggregates with β-strands perpendicular to the long axis of the filament) underlies most yeast and fungal prions, and a single prion protein can have any of several distinct self-propagating amyloid forms with different biological properties (prion variants). Here we review the mechanism of faithful templating of protein conformation, the biological roles of these prions, and their interactions with cellular chaperones, the Btn2 and Cur1 aggregate-handling systems, and other cellular factors governing prion generation and propagation. Human amyloidoses include the PrP-based prion conditions and many other, more common amyloid-based diseases, several of which show prion-like features. Yeast prions increasingly are serving as models for the understanding and treatment of many mammalian amyloidoses. Patients with different clinical pictures of the same amyloidosis may be the equivalent of yeasts with different prion variants.
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180
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Oelschlegel AM, Geissen M, Lenk M, Riebe R, Angermann M, Schaetzl H, Groschup MH. A bovine cell line that can be infected by natural sheep scrapie prions. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0117154. [PMID: 25565633 PMCID: PMC4286239 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2014] [Accepted: 12/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Cell culture systems represent a crucial part in basic prion research; yet, cell lines that are susceptible to prions, especially to field isolated prions that were not adapted to rodents, are very rare. The purpose of this study was to identify and characterize a cell line that was susceptible to ruminant-derived prions and to establish a stable prion infection within it. Based on species and tissue of origin as well as PrP expression rate, we pre-selected a total of 33 cell lines that were then challenged with natural and with mouse propagated BSE or scrapie inocula. Here, we report the successful infection of a non-transgenic bovine cell line, a sub-line of the bovine kidney cell line MDBK, with natural sheep scrapie prions. This cell line retained the scrapie infection for more than 200 passages. Selective cloning resulted in cell populations with increased accumulation of PrPres, although this treatment was not mandatory for retaining the infection. The infection remained stable, even under suboptimal culture conditions. The resulting infectivity of the cells was confirmed by mouse bioassay (Tgbov mice, Tgshp mice). We believe that PES cells used together with other prion permissive cell lines will prove a valuable tool for ongoing efforts to understand and defeat prions and prion diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anja M. Oelschlegel
- Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald—Isle of Riems, Germany
- Project Group Neuropharmacology, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Markus Geissen
- Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald—Isle of Riems, Germany
- Department of Vascular Medicine, University Heart Centre Hamburg, UKE, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Matthias Lenk
- Department of Experimental Animal Facilities and Biorisk Management at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald—Isle of Riems, Germany
| | - Roland Riebe
- Department of Experimental Animal Facilities and Biorisk Management at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald—Isle of Riems, Germany
| | - Marlies Angermann
- Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald—Isle of Riems, Germany
- Administrative District Office Goerlitz, Goerlitz, Germany
| | - Hermann Schaetzl
- Department of Comparative Biology and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Martin H. Groschup
- Institute of Novel and Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald—Isle of Riems, Germany
- * E-mail:
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181
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Abstract
The quasispecies concept is introduced by means of a simple theoretical model that uses as little chemical kinetics and mathematics as possible but fully in the spirit of Albert Einstein who said: "Things should be made as simple as possible but not simpler." More elaborate treatments follow in the forthcoming chapters. It is shown that the most important results of the theory, in particular the existence of error thresholds, are not dependent on simplifying assumptions concerning the distribution of fitness values. Error thresholds are regularly found on landscapes with large and irregular scatter of fitness. After the introduction to theory, it will be shown how experimental data on the evolution of molecules or viruses may be fit to the theoretical model.
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182
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Bondarev SA, Zhouravleva GA, Belousov MV, Kajava AV. Structure-based view on [PSI(+)] prion properties. Prion 2015; 9:190-9. [PMID: 26030475 PMCID: PMC4601339 DOI: 10.1080/19336896.2015.1044186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2015] [Revised: 04/17/2015] [Accepted: 04/17/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Yeast [PSI(+)] prion is one of the most suitable and well characterized system for the investigation of the prion phenomenon. However, until recently, the lack of data on the 3D arrangement of Sup35p prion fibrils hindered progress in this area. The recent arrival in this field of new experimental techniques led to the parallel and in-register superpleated β-structure as a consensus model for Sup35p fibrils. Here, we analyzed the effect of amino acid substitutions of the Sup35 protein through the prism of this structural model. Application of a newly developed computational approach, called ArchCandy, gives us a better understanding of the effect caused by mutations on the fibril forming potential of Sup35 protein. This bioinformatics tool can be used for the design of new mutations with desired modification of prion properties. Thus, we provide examples of how today, having progress toward elucidation of the structural arrangement of Sup35p fibrils, researchers can advance more efficiently to a better understanding of prion [PSI(+)] stability and propagation.
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Key Words
- Asu mutations, antisupressor mutations
- EM, electron microscopy
- NMR, nuclear magnetic resonance
- PNM, [PSI+] no more
- STEM, scanning transmission electron microscopy
- amyloid, prion, protein misfolding, protein structure, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, superpleated β-structure, [PSI+]
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Affiliation(s)
- Stanislav A Bondarev
- Department of Genetics and Biotechnology; St. Petersburg State University; St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Galina A Zhouravleva
- Department of Genetics and Biotechnology; St. Petersburg State University; St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Mikhail V Belousov
- Department of Genetics and Biotechnology; St. Petersburg State University; St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Andrey V Kajava
- Centre de Recherches de Biochimie Macromoléculaire; CNRS; Université Montpellier; Montpellier, Cedex 5, France
- University ITMO; St. Petersburg, Russia
- Institut de Biologie Computationnelle; Montpellier, Cedex 5, France
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183
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Smith JE, Mowles AK, Mehta AK, Lynn DG. Looked at life from both sides now. Life (Basel) 2014; 4:887-902. [PMID: 25513758 PMCID: PMC4284472 DOI: 10.3390/life4040887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2014] [Revised: 12/01/2014] [Accepted: 12/02/2014] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
As the molecular top–down causality emerging through comparative genomics is combined with the bottom–up dynamic chemical networks of biochemistry, the molecular symbiotic relationships driving growth of the tree of life becomes strikingly apparent. These symbioses can be mutualistic or parasitic across many levels, but most foundational is the complex and intricate mutualism of nucleic acids and proteins known as the central dogma of biological information flow. This unification of digital and analog molecular information within a common chemical network enables processing of the vast amounts of information necessary for cellular life. Here we consider the molecular information pathways of these dynamic biopolymer networks from the perspective of their evolution and use that perspective to inform and constrain pathways for the construction of mutualistic polymers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jillian E Smith
- Department of Chemistry and Biology, Emory University, 1515 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
| | - Allisandra K Mowles
- Department of Chemistry and Biology, Emory University, 1515 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
| | - Anil K Mehta
- Department of Chemistry and Biology, Emory University, 1515 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
| | - David G Lynn
- Department of Chemistry and Biology, Emory University, 1515 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
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184
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Aguilar-Calvo P, García C, Espinosa JC, Andreoletti O, Torres JM. Prion and prion-like diseases in animals. Virus Res 2014; 207:82-93. [PMID: 25444937 DOI: 10.1016/j.virusres.2014.11.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2014] [Revised: 10/06/2014] [Accepted: 11/24/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Transmissible spongiform encephalopaties (TSEs) are fatal neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the aggregation and accumulation of the misfolded prion protein in the brain. Other proteins such as β-amyloid, tau or Serum Amyloid-A (SAA) seem to share with prions some aspects of their pathogenic mechanism; causing a variety of so called prion-like diseases in humans and/or animals such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, Type II diabetes mellitus or amyloidosis. The question remains whether these misfolding proteins have the ability to self-propagate and transmit in a similar manner to prions. In this review, we describe the prion and prion-like diseases affecting animals as well as the recent findings suggesting the prion-like transmissibility of certain non-prion proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Consolación García
- Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA-INIA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Juan Carlos Espinosa
- Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA-INIA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain
| | - Olivier Andreoletti
- INRA, UMR 1225, Interactions Hôtes Agents Pathogènes, École Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse, 23 chemin des Capelles, 31076 Toulouse Cedex, France
| | - Juan María Torres
- Centro de Investigación en Sanidad Animal (CISA-INIA), 28130 Valdeolmos, Madrid, Spain.
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185
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Falcon B, Cavallini A, Angers R, Glover S, Murray TK, Barnham L, Jackson S, O'Neill MJ, Isaacs AM, Hutton ML, Szekeres PG, Goedert M, Bose S. Conformation determines the seeding potencies of native and recombinant Tau aggregates. J Biol Chem 2014; 290:1049-65. [PMID: 25406315 PMCID: PMC4294473 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m114.589309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 197] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Intracellular Tau inclusions are a pathological hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases, collectively known as the tauopathies. They include Alzheimer disease, tangle-only dementia, Pick disease, argyrophilic grain disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, progressive supranuclear palsy, and corticobasal degeneration. Tau pathology appears to spread through intercellular propagation, requiring the formation of assembled “prion-like” species. Several cell and animal models have been described that recapitulate aspects of this phenomenon. However, the molecular characteristics of seed-competent Tau remain unclear. Here, we have used a cell model to understand the relationships between Tau structure/phosphorylation and seeding by aggregated Tau species from the brains of mice transgenic for human mutant P301S Tau and full-length aggregated recombinant P301S Tau. Deletion of motifs 275VQIINK280 and 306VQIVYK311 abolished the seeding activity of recombinant full-length Tau, suggesting that its aggregation was necessary for seeding. We describe conformational differences between native and synthetic Tau aggregates that may account for the higher seeding activity of native assembled Tau. When added to aggregated Tau seeds from the brains of mice transgenic for P301S Tau, soluble recombinant Tau aggregated and acquired the molecular properties of aggregated Tau from transgenic mouse brain. We show that seeding is conferred by aggregated Tau that enters cells through macropinocytosis and seeds the assembly of endogenous Tau into filaments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Falcon
- From the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom
| | - Annalisa Cavallini
- Eli Lilly and Co., Erl Wood Manor, Windlesham, Surrey GU20 6PH, United Kingdom, and
| | - Rachel Angers
- From the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom, Eli Lilly and Co., Erl Wood Manor, Windlesham, Surrey GU20 6PH, United Kingdom, and
| | - Sarah Glover
- Eli Lilly and Co., Erl Wood Manor, Windlesham, Surrey GU20 6PH, United Kingdom, and
| | - Tracey K Murray
- Eli Lilly and Co., Erl Wood Manor, Windlesham, Surrey GU20 6PH, United Kingdom, and
| | - Luanda Barnham
- Eli Lilly and Co., Erl Wood Manor, Windlesham, Surrey GU20 6PH, United Kingdom, and
| | - Samuel Jackson
- Eli Lilly and Co., Erl Wood Manor, Windlesham, Surrey GU20 6PH, United Kingdom, and
| | - Michael J O'Neill
- Eli Lilly and Co., Erl Wood Manor, Windlesham, Surrey GU20 6PH, United Kingdom, and
| | - Adrian M Isaacs
- the UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom
| | - Michael L Hutton
- Eli Lilly and Co., Erl Wood Manor, Windlesham, Surrey GU20 6PH, United Kingdom, and
| | - Philip G Szekeres
- Eli Lilly and Co., Erl Wood Manor, Windlesham, Surrey GU20 6PH, United Kingdom, and
| | - Michel Goedert
- From the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH, United Kingdom,
| | - Suchira Bose
- Eli Lilly and Co., Erl Wood Manor, Windlesham, Surrey GU20 6PH, United Kingdom, and
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186
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Liang C, Ni R, Smith JE, Childers WS, Mehta AK, Lynn DG. Kinetic Intermediates in Amyloid Assembly. J Am Chem Soc 2014; 136:15146-9. [DOI: 10.1021/ja508621b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Chen Liang
- Departments of Chemistry
and Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States
| | - Rong Ni
- Departments of Chemistry
and Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States
| | - Jillian E. Smith
- Departments of Chemistry
and Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States
| | - W. Seth Childers
- Departments of Chemistry
and Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States
| | - Anil K. Mehta
- Departments of Chemistry
and Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States
| | - David G. Lynn
- Departments of Chemistry
and Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, United States
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187
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Sialylation of prion protein controls the rate of prion amplification, the cross-species barrier, the ratio of PrPSc glycoform and prion infectivity. PLoS Pathog 2014; 10:e1004366. [PMID: 25211026 PMCID: PMC4161476 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2014] [Accepted: 07/28/2014] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The central event underlying prion diseases involves conformational change of the cellular form of the prion protein (PrPC) into the disease-associated, transmissible form (PrPSc). PrPC is a sialoglycoprotein that contains two conserved N-glycosylation sites. Among the key parameters that control prion replication identified over the years are amino acid sequence of host PrPC and the strain-specific structure of PrPSc. The current work highlights the previously unappreciated role of sialylation of PrPC glycans in prion pathogenesis, including its role in controlling prion replication rate, infectivity, cross-species barrier and PrPSc glycoform ratio. The current study demonstrates that undersialylated PrPC is selected during prion amplification in Protein Misfolding Cyclic Amplification (PMCAb) at the expense of oversialylated PrPC. As a result, PMCAb-derived PrPSc was less sialylated than brain-derived PrPSc. A decrease in PrPSc sialylation correlated with a drop in infectivity of PMCAb-derived material. Nevertheless, enzymatic de-sialylation of PrPC using sialidase was found to increase the rate of PrPSc amplification in PMCAb from 10- to 10,000-fold in a strain-dependent manner. Moreover, de-sialylation of PrPC reduced or eliminated a species barrier of for prion amplification in PMCAb. These results suggest that the negative charge of sialic acid controls the energy barrier of homologous and heterologous prion replication. Surprisingly, the sialylation status of PrPC was also found to control PrPSc glycoform ratio. A decrease in PrPC sialylation levels resulted in a higher percentage of the diglycosylated glycoform in PrPSc. 2D analysis of charge distribution revealed that the sialylation status of brain-derived PrPC differed from that of spleen-derived PrPC. Knocking out lysosomal sialidase Neu1 did not change the sialylation status of brain-derived PrPC, suggesting that Neu1 is not responsible for desialylation of PrPC. The current work highlights previously unappreciated role of PrPC sialylation in prion diseases and opens multiple new research directions, including development of new therapeutic approaches. The central event underlying prion diseases involves conformational change of the cellular form of the prion protein (PrPC) into disease-associated, transmissible form (PrPSc). The amino acid sequence of PrPC and strain-specific structure of PrPSc are among the key parameters that control prion replication and transmission. The current study showed that PrPC posttranslational modification, specifically sialylation of N-linked glycans, plays a key role in regulating prion replication rate, infectivity, cross-species barrier and PrPSc glycoform ratio. A decrease in PrPC sialylation level increased the rate of prion replication in a strain-specific manner and reduced or eliminated a species barrier when prion replication was seeded by heterologous seeds. At the same time, a decrease in sialylation correlated with a drop in infectivity of PrPSc material produced in vitro. The current study also demonstrated that the PrPSc glycoform ratio, which is an important feature used for strain typing, is not only controlled by prion strain or host but also the sialylation status of PrPC. This study opens multiple new directions in prion research, including development of new therapeutic approaches.
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188
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Krejciova Z, Barria MA, Jones M, Ironside JW, Jeffrey M, González L, Head MW. Genotype-dependent molecular evolution of sheep bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) prions in vitro affects their zoonotic potential. J Biol Chem 2014; 289:26075-26088. [PMID: 25100723 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m114.582965] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Prion diseases are rare fatal neurological conditions of humans and animals, one of which (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease) is known to be a zoonotic form of the cattle disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). What makes one animal prion disease zoonotic and others not is poorly understood, but it appears to involve compatibility between the prion strain and the host prion protein sequence. Concerns have been raised that the United Kingdom sheep flock may have been exposed to BSE early in the cattle BSE epidemic and that serial BSE transmission in sheep might have resulted in adaptation of the agent, which may have come to phenotypically resemble scrapie while maintaining its pathogenicity for humans. We have modeled this scenario in vitro. Extrapolation from our results suggests that if BSE were to infect sheep in the field it may, with time and in some sheep genotypes, become scrapie-like at the molecular level. However, the results also suggest that if BSE in sheep were to come to resemble scrapie it would lose its ability to affect humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zuzana Krejciova
- National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Research and Surveillance Unit, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom
| | - Marcelo A Barria
- National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Research and Surveillance Unit, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom
| | - Michael Jones
- Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service, Edinburgh EH17 7QT, United Kingdom, and
| | - James W Ironside
- National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Research and Surveillance Unit, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom
| | - Martin Jeffrey
- Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Lasswade, Edinburgh EH26 0PZ, United Kingdom
| | - Lorenzo González
- Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, Lasswade, Edinburgh EH26 0PZ, United Kingdom
| | - Mark W Head
- National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Research and Surveillance Unit, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, United Kingdom,.
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189
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Conformational properties of prion strains can be transmitted to recombinant prion protein fibrils in real-time quaking-induced conversion. J Virol 2014; 88:11791-801. [PMID: 25078700 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.00585-14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The phenomenon of prion strains with distinct biological characteristics has been hypothesized to be involved in the structural diversity of abnormal prion protein (PrP(Sc)). However, the molecular basis of the transmission of strain properties remains poorly understood. Real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QUIC) is a cell-free system that uses Escherichia coli-derived recombinant PrP (rPrP) for the sensitive detection of PrP(Sc). To investigate whether the properties of various prion strains can be transmitted to amyloid fibrils consisting of rPrP (rPrP fibrils) using RT-QUIC, we examined the secondary structure, conformational stability, and infectivity of rPrP fibrils seeded with PrP(Sc) derived from either the Chandler or the 22L strain. In the first round of the reaction, there were differences in the secondary structures, especially in bands attributed to β-sheets, as determined by infrared spectroscopy, and conformational stability between Chandler-seeded (1st-rPrP-fib(Ch)) and 22L-seeded (1st-rPrP-fib(22L)) rPrP fibrils. Of note, specific identifying characteristics of the two rPrP fibril types seen in the β-sheets resembled those of the original PrP(Sc). Furthermore, the conformational stability of 1st-rPrP-fib(Ch) was significantly higher than that of 1st-rPrP-fib(22L), as with Chandler and 22L PrP(Sc). The survival periods of mice inoculated with 1st-rPrP-fib(Ch) or 1st-rPrP-fib(22L) were significantly shorter than those of mice inoculated with mixtures from the mock 1st-round RT-QUIC procedure. In contrast, these biochemical characteristics were no longer evident in subsequent rounds, suggesting that nonspecific uninfected rPrP fibrils became predominant probably because of their high growth rate. Together, these findings show that at least some strain-specific conformational properties can be transmitted to rPrP fibrils and unknown cofactors or environmental conditions may be required for further conservation. Importance: The phenomenon of prion strains with distinct biological characteristics is assumed to result from the conformational variations in the abnormal prion protein (PrP(Sc)). However, important questions remain about the mechanistic relationship between the conformational differences and the strain diversity, including how strain-specific conformations are transmitted. In this study, we investigated whether the properties of diverse prion strains can be transmitted to amyloid fibrils consisting of E. coli-derived recombinant PrP (rPrP) generated by real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QUIC), a recently developed in vitro PrP(Sc) formation method. We demonstrate that at least some of the strain-specific conformational properties can be transmitted to rPrP fibrils in the first round of RT-QUIC by examining the secondary structure, conformational stability, and infectivity of rPrP fibrils seeded with PrP(Sc) derived from either the Chandler or the 22L prion strain. We believe that these findings will advance our understanding of the conformational basis underlying prion strain diversity.
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190
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Prion neuropathology follows the accumulation of alternate prion protein isoforms after infective titre has peaked. Nat Commun 2014; 5:4347. [PMID: 25005024 PMCID: PMC4104459 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 106] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2014] [Accepted: 06/09/2014] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Prions are lethal infectious agents thought to consist of multi-chain forms (PrPSc) of misfolded cellular prion protein (PrPC). Prion propagation proceeds in two distinct mechanistic phases: an exponential phase 1, which rapidly reaches a fixed level of infectivity irrespective of PrPC expression level, and a plateau (phase 2), which continues until clinical onset with duration inversely proportional to PrPC expression level. We hypothesized that neurotoxicity relates to distinct neurotoxic species produced following a pathway switch when prion levels saturate. Here we show a linear increase of proteinase K-sensitive PrP isoforms distinct from classical PrPSc at a rate proportional to PrPC concentration, commencing at the phase transition and rising until clinical onset. The unaltered level of total PrP during phase 1, when prion infectivity increases a million-fold, indicates that prions comprise a small minority of total PrP. This is consistent with PrPC concentration not being rate limiting to exponential prion propagation and neurotoxicity relating to critical concentrations of alternate PrP isoforms whose production is PrPC concentration dependent. Prions (PrP) are infectious agents that cause lethal neurodegenerative diseases. Here the authors study the kinetics of prion propagation in mice and show that the onset of neuropathology occurs during the late phase of disease and is hypothesized to be due to increases in a toxic isoform of PrP that is different from the infectious species.
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191
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Holmes BB, Diamond MI. Prion-like properties of Tau protein: the importance of extracellular Tau as a therapeutic target. J Biol Chem 2014; 289:19855-61. [PMID: 24860099 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.r114.549295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 152] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Work over the past 4 years indicates that multiple proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases, especially Tau and α-synuclein, can propagate aggregates between cells in a prion-like manner. This means that once an aggregate is formed it can escape the cell of origin, contact a connected cell, enter the cell, and induce further aggregation via templated conformational change. The prion model predicts a key role for extracellular protein aggregates in mediating progression of disease. This suggests new therapeutic approaches based on blocking neuronal uptake of protein aggregates and promoting their clearance. This will likely include therapeutic antibodies or small molecules, both of which can be developed and optimized in vitro prior to preclinical studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon B Holmes
- From the Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
| | - Marc I Diamond
- From the Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
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192
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Sanders DW, Kaufman SK, DeVos SL, Sharma AM, Mirbaha H, Li A, Barker SJ, Foley AC, Thorpe JR, Serpell LC, Miller TM, Grinberg LT, Seeley WW, Diamond MI. Distinct tau prion strains propagate in cells and mice and define different tauopathies. Neuron 2014; 82:1271-88. [PMID: 24857020 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.04.047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 727] [Impact Index Per Article: 66.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/15/2014] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Prion-like propagation of tau aggregation might underlie the stereotyped progression of neurodegenerative tauopathies. True prions stably maintain unique conformations ("strains") in vivo that link structure to patterns of pathology. We now find that tau meets this criterion. Stably expressed tau repeat domain indefinitely propagates distinct amyloid conformations in a clonal fashion in culture. Reintroduction of tau from these lines into naive cells reestablishes identical clones. We produced two strains in vitro that induce distinct pathologies in vivo as determined by successive inoculations into three generations of transgenic mice. Immunopurified tau from these mice recreates the original strains in culture. We used the cell system to isolate tau strains from 29 patients with 5 different tauopathies, finding that different diseases are associated with different sets of strains. Tau thus demonstrates essential characteristics of a prion. This might explain the phenotypic diversity of tauopathies and could enable more effective diagnosis and therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- David W Sanders
- Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63105, USA
| | - Sarah K Kaufman
- Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63105, USA
| | - Sarah L DeVos
- Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63105, USA
| | - Apurwa M Sharma
- Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63105, USA
| | - Hilda Mirbaha
- Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63105, USA
| | - Aimin Li
- Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63105, USA
| | - Scarlett J Barker
- Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63105, USA
| | - Alex C Foley
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer BN1 9QG, UK
| | - Julian R Thorpe
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer BN1 9QG, UK
| | - Louise C Serpell
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer BN1 9QG, UK
| | - Timothy M Miller
- Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63105, USA
| | - Lea T Grinberg
- Department of Neurology and Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - William W Seeley
- Department of Neurology and Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Marc I Diamond
- Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63105, USA.
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193
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Marbiah MM, Harvey A, West BT, Louzolo A, Banerjee P, Alden J, Grigoriadis A, Hummerich H, Kan HM, Cai Y, Bloom GS, Jat P, Collinge J, Klöhn PC. Identification of a gene regulatory network associated with prion replication. EMBO J 2014; 33:1527-47. [PMID: 24843046 PMCID: PMC4198050 DOI: 10.15252/embj.201387150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Prions consist of aggregates of abnormal conformers of the cellular prion protein (PrPC). They propagate by recruiting host-encoded PrPC although the critical interacting proteins and the reasons for the differences in susceptibility of distinct cell lines and populations are unknown. We derived a lineage of cell lines with markedly differing susceptibilities, unexplained by PrPC expression differences, to identify such factors. Transcriptome analysis of prion-resistant revertants, isolated from highly susceptible cells, revealed a gene expression signature associated with susceptibility and modulated by differentiation. Several of these genes encode proteins with a role in extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling, a compartment in which disease-related PrP is deposited. Silencing nine of these genes significantly increased susceptibility. Silencing of Papss2 led to undersulphated heparan sulphate and increased PrPC deposition at the ECM, concomitantly with increased prion propagation. Moreover, inhibition of fibronectin 1 binding to integrin α8 by RGD peptide inhibited metalloproteinases (MMP)-2/9 whilst increasing prion propagation. In summary, we have identified a gene regulatory network associated with prion propagation at the ECM and governed by the cellular differentiation state.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masue M Marbiah
- MRC Prion Unit and Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology Queen Square, London, UK
| | - Anna Harvey
- MRC Prion Unit and Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology Queen Square, London, UK
| | - Billy T West
- MRC Prion Unit and Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology Queen Square, London, UK
| | - Anais Louzolo
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Priya Banerjee
- Biomedical Communications, Terrence Donnelly Health Sciences Complex University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Jack Alden
- MRC Prion Unit and Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology Queen Square, London, UK
| | - Anita Grigoriadis
- Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit, Research Oncology, Guy's Hospital, London, UK
| | - Holger Hummerich
- MRC Prion Unit and Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology Queen Square, London, UK
| | - Ho-Man Kan
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Ying Cai
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - George S Bloom
- Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Parmjit Jat
- MRC Prion Unit and Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology Queen Square, London, UK
| | - John Collinge
- MRC Prion Unit and Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology Queen Square, London, UK
| | - Peter-Christian Klöhn
- MRC Prion Unit and Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology Queen Square, London, UK
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194
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Ghaemmaghami S, Russo M, Renslo AR. Successes and challenges in phenotype-based lead discovery for prion diseases. J Med Chem 2014; 57:6919-29. [PMID: 24762293 PMCID: PMC4148153 DOI: 10.1021/jm5001425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
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Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease
(CJD) is a rare but invariably
fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by misfolding of an endogenous
protein into an alternative pathogenic conformation. The details of
protein misfolding and aggregation are not well understood nor are
the mechanism(s) by which the aggregated protein confers cellular
toxicity. While there is as yet no clear consensus about how best
to intervene therapeutically in CJD, prion infections can be propagated
in cell culture and in experimental animals, affording both in vitro
and in vivo models of disease. Here we review recent lead discovery
efforts for CJD, with a focus on our own efforts to optimize 2-aminothiazole
analogues for anti-prion potency in cells and for brain exposure in
mice. The compounds that emerged from this effort were found to be
efficacious in multiple animal models of prion disease even as they
revealed new challenges for the field, including the emergence of
resistant prion strains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sina Ghaemmaghami
- Department of Biology, University of Rochester , 326 Hutchison Hall, Rochester, New York 14627, United States
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195
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Abstract
Prions are proteins that acquire alternative conformations that become self-propagating. Transformation of proteins into prions is generally accompanied by an increase in β-sheet structure and a propensity to aggregate into oligomers. Some prions are beneficial and perform cellular functions, whereas others cause neurodegeneration. In mammals, more than a dozen proteins that become prions have been identified, and a similar number has been found in fungi. In both mammals and fungi, variations in the prion conformation encipher the biological properties of distinct prion strains. Increasing evidence argues that prions cause many neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, and Lou Gehrig's diseases, as well as the tauopathies. The majority of NDs are sporadic, and 10% to 20% are inherited. The late onset of heritable NDs, like their sporadic counterparts, may reflect the stochastic nature of prion formation; the pathogenesis of such illnesses seems to require prion accumulation to exceed some critical threshold before neurological dysfunction manifests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stanley B Prusiner
- Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases and Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143;
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196
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Zhang Y, Wang F, Wang X, Zhang Z, Xu Y, Yu G, Yuan C, Ma J. Comparison of 2 synthetically generated recombinant prions. Prion 2014; 8:28669. [PMID: 24721728 PMCID: PMC4189893 DOI: 10.4161/pri.28669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Prion is a protein-conformation-based infectious agent causing fatal neurodegenerative diseases in humans and animals. Our previous studies revealed that in the presence of cofactors, infectious prions can be synthetically generated in vitro with bacterially expressed recombinant prion protein (PrP). Once initiated, the recombinant prion is able to propagate indefinitely via serial protein misfolding cyclic amplification (sPMCA). In this study, we compared 2 separately initiated recombinant prions. Our results showed that these 2 recombinant prions had distinct biochemical properties and caused different patterns of spongiosis and PrP deposition in inoculated mice. Our findings indicate that various recombinant prions can be initiated in vitro and potential reasons for this variability are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics; Ministry of Education; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics; School of Life Sciences; East China Normal University; Shanghai, PR China; Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry; Ohio State University; Columbus, OH USA
| | - Fei Wang
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry; Ohio State University; Columbus, OH USA
| | - Xinhe Wang
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry; Ohio State University; Columbus, OH USA
| | - Zhihong Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics; Ministry of Education; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics; School of Life Sciences; East China Normal University; Shanghai, PR China
| | - Yuanyuan Xu
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics; Ministry of Education; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics; School of Life Sciences; East China Normal University; Shanghai, PR China
| | - Guohua Yu
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics; Ministry of Education; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics; School of Life Sciences; East China Normal University; Shanghai, PR China
| | - Chonggang Yuan
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics; Ministry of Education; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics; School of Life Sciences; East China Normal University; Shanghai, PR China
| | - Jiyan Ma
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics; Ministry of Education; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics; School of Life Sciences; East China Normal University; Shanghai, PR China; Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry; Ohio State University; Columbus, OH USA
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197
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Westergard L, True HL. Extracellular environment modulates the formation and propagation of particular amyloid structures. Mol Microbiol 2014; 92:698-715. [PMID: 24628771 DOI: 10.1111/mmi.12579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Amyloidogenic proteins, including prions, assemble into multiple forms of structurally distinct fibres. The [PSI(+)] prion, endogenous to the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is a dominantly inherited, epigenetic modifier of phenotypes. [PSI(+)] formation relies on the coexistence of another prion, [RNQ(+)]. Here, in order to better define the role of amyloid diversity on cellular phenotypes, we investigated how physiological and environmental changes impact the generation and propagation of diverse protein conformations from a single polypeptide. Utilizing the yeast model system, we defined extracellular factors that influence the formation of a spectrum of alternative self-propagating amyloid structures of the Sup35 protein, called [PSI(+)] variants. Strikingly, exposure to specific stressful environments dramatically altered the variants of [PSI(+)] that formed de novo. Additionally, we found that stress also influenced the association between the [PSI(+)] and [RNQ(+)] prions in a way that it superceded their typical relationship. Furthermore, changing the growth environment modified both the biochemical properties and [PSI(+)]-inducing capabilities of the [RNQ(+)] template. These data suggest that the cellular environment contributes to both the generation and the selective propagation of specific amyloid structures, providing insight into a key feature that impacts phenotypic diversity in yeast and the cross-species transmission barriers characteristic of prion diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Westergard
- Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
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198
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Quinacrine promotes replication and conformational mutation of chronic wasting disease prions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111:6028-33. [PMID: 24711410 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1322377111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Quinacrine's ability to reduce levels of pathogenic prion protein (PrP(Sc)) in mouse cells infected with experimentally adapted prions led to several unsuccessful clinical studies in patients with prion diseases, a 10-y investment to understand its mechanism of action, and the production of related compounds with expectations of greater efficacy. We show here, in stark contrast to this reported inhibitory effect, that quinacrine enhances deer and elk PrP(Sc) accumulation and promotes propagation of prions causing chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal, transmissible, neurodegenerative disorder of cervids of uncertain zoonotic potential. Surprisingly, despite increased prion titers in quinacrine-treated cells, transmission of the resulting prions produced prolonged incubation times and altered PrP(Sc) deposition patterns in the brains of diseased transgenic mice. This unexpected outcome is consistent with quinacrine affecting the intrinsic properties of the CWD prion. Accordingly, quinacrine-treated CWD prions were comprised of an altered PrP(Sc) conformation. Our findings provide convincing evidence for drug-induced conformational mutation of prions without the prerequisite of generating drug-resistant variants of the original strain. More specifically, they show that a drug capable of restraining prions in one species/strain setting, and consequently used to treat human prion diseases, improves replicative ability in another and therefore force reconsideration of current strategies to screen antiprion compounds.
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199
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Cell-to-cell transmission of pathogenic proteins in neurodegenerative diseases. Nat Med 2014; 20:130-8. [PMID: 24504409 DOI: 10.1038/nm.3457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 482] [Impact Index Per Article: 43.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2013] [Accepted: 12/19/2013] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
A common feature of many neurodegenerative diseases is the deposition of β-sheet-rich amyloid aggregates formed by proteins specific to these diseases. These protein aggregates are thought to cause neuronal dysfunction, directly or indirectly. Recent studies have strongly implicated cell-to-cell transmission of misfolded proteins as a common mechanism for the onset and progression of various neurodegenerative disorders. Emerging evidence also suggests the presence of conformationally diverse 'strains' of each type of disease protein, which may be another shared feature of amyloid aggregates, accounting for the tremendous heterogeneity within each type of neurodegenerative disease. Although there are many more questions to be answered, these studies have opened up new avenues for therapeutic interventions in neurodegenerative disorders.
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200
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Watts JC, Giles K, Patel S, Oehler A, DeArmond SJ, Prusiner SB. Evidence that bank vole PrP is a universal acceptor for prions. PLoS Pathog 2014; 10:e1003990. [PMID: 24699458 PMCID: PMC3974871 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2013] [Accepted: 01/28/2014] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Bank voles are uniquely susceptible to a wide range of prion strains isolated from many different species. To determine if this enhanced susceptibility to interspecies prion transmission is encoded within the sequence of the bank vole prion protein (BVPrP), we inoculated Tg(M109) and Tg(I109) mice, which express BVPrP containing either methionine or isoleucine at polymorphic codon 109, with 16 prion isolates from 8 different species: humans, cattle, elk, sheep, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, and meadow voles. Efficient disease transmission was observed in both Tg(M109) and Tg(I109) mice. For instance, inoculation of the most common human prion strain, sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) subtype MM1, into Tg(M109) mice gave incubation periods of ∼200 days that were shortened slightly on second passage. Chronic wasting disease prions exhibited an incubation time of ∼250 days, which shortened to ∼150 days upon second passage in Tg(M109) mice. Unexpectedly, bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant CJD prions caused rapid neurological dysfunction in Tg(M109) mice upon second passage, with incubation periods of 64 and 40 days, respectively. Despite the rapid incubation periods, other strain-specified properties of many prion isolates—including the size of proteinase K–resistant PrPSc, the pattern of cerebral PrPSc deposition, and the conformational stability—were remarkably conserved upon serial passage in Tg(M109) mice. Our results demonstrate that expression of BVPrP is sufficient to engender enhanced susceptibility to a diverse range of prion isolates, suggesting that BVPrP may be a universal acceptor for prions. Prions are infectious proteins that cause devastating neurodegenerative diseases in both humans and animals. Unlike other rodents, bank voles are highly susceptible to prions from many different species, suggesting that bank voles do not impose a “species barrier,” which normally restricts the transmission of prions from one species to another. We were curious as to whether the unprecedented promiscuity of bank voles for prions is due to the specific prion protein sequence expressed, or to some other factor inherent to bank vole physiology. To answer this question, we inoculated transgenic mice that express bank vole prion protein [Tg(BVPrP) mice] with a diverse set of prions deriving from eight different species. Like bank voles, Tg(BVPrP) mice were highly susceptible to prions from all species tested, demonstrating that the BVPrP sequence mediates the enhanced susceptibility of bank voles to prions. Because the amino acid sequences of mouse and BVPrP differ at only eight positions, our results demonstrate that alterations to a small subset of residues within PrP can have a profound effect on the susceptibility of an organism to prions from another species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joel C Watts
- Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America; Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Kurt Giles
- Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America; Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Smita Patel
- Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Abby Oehler
- Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Stephen J DeArmond
- Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America; Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Stanley B Prusiner
- Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America; Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
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