Hsp31 Is a Stress Response Chaperone That Intervenes in the Protein Misfolding Process

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae heat shock protein Hsp31 is a stress-inducible homodimeric protein that is involved in diauxic shift reprogramming and has glyoxalase activity. We show that substoichiometric concentrations of Hsp31 can abrogate aggregation of a broad array of substrates in vitro. Hsp31 also modulates the aggregation of α-synuclein (αSyn), a target of the chaperone activity of human DJ-1, an Hsp31 homolog. We demonstrate that Hsp31 is able to suppress the in vitro fibrillization or aggregation of αSyn, citrate synthase and insulin. Chaperone activity was also observed in vivo because constitutive overexpression of Hsp31 reduced the incidence of αSyn cytoplasmic foci, and yeast cells were rescued from αSyn-generated proteotoxicity upon Hsp31 overexpression. Moreover, we showed that Hsp31 protein levels are increased by H2O2, in the diauxic phase of normal growth conditions, and in cells under αSyn-mediated proteotoxic stress. We show that Hsp31 chaperone activity and not the methylglyoxalase activity or the autophagy pathway drives the protective effects. We also demonstrate reduced aggregation of the Sup35 prion domain, PrD-Sup35, as visualized by fluorescent protein fusions. In addition, Hsp31 acts on its substrates prior to the formation of large aggregates because Hsp31 does not mutually localize with prion aggregates, and it prevents the formation of detectable in vitro αSyn fibrils. These studies establish that the protective role of Hsp31 against cellular stress is achieved by chaperone activity that intervenes early in the protein misfolding process and is effective on a wide spectrum of substrate proteins, including αSyn and prion proteins.

Effects of impaired membrane interactions on α-synuclein aggregation and neurotoxicity

The post-mortem brains of individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) and other synucleinopathy disorders are characterized by the presence of aggregated forms of the presynaptic protein α-synuclein (aSyn). Understanding the molecular mechanism of aSyn aggregation is essential for the development of neuroprotective strategies to treat these diseases. In this study, we examined how interactions between aSyn and phospholipid vesicles influence the protein's aggregation and toxicity to dopaminergic neurons. Two-dimensional NMR data revealed that two familial aSyn mutants, A30P and G51D, populated an exposed, membrane-bound conformer in which the central hydrophobic region was dissociated from the bilayer to a greater extent than in the case of wild-type aSyn. A30P and G51D had a greater propensity to undergo membrane-induced aggregation and elicited greater toxicity to primary dopaminergic neurons compared to the wild-type protein. In contrast, the non-familial aSyn mutant A29E exhibited a weak propensity to aggregate in the presence of phospholipid vesicles or to elicit neurotoxicity, despite adopting a relatively exposed membrane-bound conformation. Our findings suggest that the aggregation of exposed, membrane-bound aSyn conformers plays a key role in the protein's neurotoxicity in PD and other synucleinopathy disorders.

α-Synuclein misfolding assessed with single molecule AFM force spectroscopy: effect of pathogenic mutations

Misfolding and subsequent aggregation of alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) protein are critically involved in the development of several neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease (PD). Three familial single point mutations, A30P, E46K, and A53T, correlate with early onset PD; however, the molecular mechanism of the effects of these mutations on the structural properties of α-Syn and its propensity to misfold remains unclear. Here, we address this issue utilizing a single molecule AFM force spectroscopy approach in which structural details of dimers formed by all four variants of α-Syn are characterized. Analysis of the force spectroscopy data reflecting contour length distribution for α-Syn dimer dissociation suggests that multiple segments are involved in the assembly of the dimer. The interactions are not limited to the central nonamyloid-beta component (NAC) of the protein but rather expand beyond this segment. All three mutations alter the protein's folding and interaction patterns affecting interactions far beyond their immediate locations. Implementation of these findings to our understanding of α-Syn aggregation pathways is discussed.

Effect of spermidine on misfolding and interactions of alpha-synuclein

Alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) is a 140 aa presynaptic protein which belongs to a group of natively unfolded proteins that are unstructured in aqueous solutions. The aggregation rate of α-Syn is accelerated in the presence of physiological levels of cellular polyamines. Here we applied single molecule AFM force spectroscopy to characterize the effect of spermidine on the very first stages of α-Syn aggregation – misfolding and assembly into dimers. Two α-Syn variants, the wild-type (WT) protein and A30P, were studied. The two protein molecules were covalently immobilized at the C-terminus, one at the AFM tip and the other on the substrate, and intermolecular interactions between the two molecules were measured by multiple approach-retraction cycles. At conditions close to physiological ones at which α-Syn misfolding is a rare event, the addition of spermidine leads to a dramatic increase in the propensity of the WT and mutant proteins to misfold. Importantly, misfolding is characterized by a set of conformations, and A30P changes the misfolding pattern as well as the strength of the intermolecular interactions. Together with the fact that spermidine facilitates late stages of α-Syn aggregation, our data demonstrate that spermidine promotes the very early stages of protein aggregation including α-Syn misfolding and dimerization. This finding suggests that increased levels of spermidine and potentially other polyamines can initiate the disease-related process of α-Syn.