Journal List > Hanyang Med Rev > v.33(2) > 1044146

Yang and Paik: Amyloidogenic Protein of α-Synuclein

Abstract

Amyloidogenesis is the key pathological phenomenon commonly observed in various neurodegenerative disorders. α-Synuclein is the major constituent of Lewy bodies as a common pathological signature of Lewy body diseases (LBDs) including Parkinson's disease (PD), PD with dementia (PDD), and Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). As proteins unfold, they would result in producing either ordered or disordered aggregates unless they are folded back to the native state by molecular chaperones or removed via proteolytic degradation. α-Synuclein known as a natively unfolded protein has self-assembled into the ordered protein aggregates of amyloid fibrils which comprise the radiating filaments found in Lewy bodies. Amyloid fibrils are generated via either a template-dependent or template-independent mechanism. The prevalent nucleation-dependent fibrillation accelerates the assembly process in the presence of seeds such as prefibrillar species. As a template-independent process, we have recently proposed the double-concerted fibrillation mechanism in which the oligomeric species of α-synuclein act as a growing unit to form the mature fibrils. Despite insufficient understanding of the toxic causes of α-synuclein, the oligomeric species have been suggested to be responsible for the cellular degeneration by influencing membrane stability while leaving the amyloid fibrils as a detoxification end product. Alternatively, the transition process from the oligomers to the fibrils has been proposed to affect cell viability. It is, therefore, expected to develop prophylactic and therapeutic strategies toward the synucleinopathies by studying cellular function of α-synuclein, molecular mechanism of its assembly into the amyloid fibrils, and their effects on cellular biogenesis. By studying cellular function of α-synuclein, its molecular mechanism of assembly into amyloid fibrils and their effects on cellular biogenesis, progress of prophylactic and therapeutic strategies toward synucleinopathy can be seen.

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1
Intracellular folding of proteins and formation of protein aggregations (Ref. 3 with permission from Biochemistry and Molecular Biology News).
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Fig. 2
Amyloid structure of PD-related α-synuclein (Ref. 3 with permission from Biochemistry and Molecular Biology News).
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Fig. 3
Template-dependent fibrillation. (A) Fibrillar growth with active monomers. The monomers convert to the amyloidogenic conformer upon binding to the template. (B) Amyloid fibril growth with passive monomers. The amyloidogenic conformers are selected by the template from the pre-existing conformational equilibrium and amyloid fibrils are elongated. (Ref. 14 with permission from BMB Reports).
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Fig. 4
Template-independent fibrillations. (A) Ligand-induced fibrillation, (B) Fibrillar polymorphisms induced by multiple ligand interactions (Ref. 14 with permission from BMB Reports).
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Fig. 5
Models of amyloidogenesis. (A) Nucleationdependent fibrillation, (B) Double- concerted fibrillation (Ref. 14 with permission from BMB Reports).
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Fig. 6
Primary structure of α-Synuclein and its interactive ligands. NAC, non-amyloid component.
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