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Hierarchical chemical determination of amyloid polymorphs in neurodegenerative disease

Nature Chemical Biology volume 17, pages 237–245 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Amyloid aggregation, which disrupts protein homeostasis, is a common pathological event occurring in human neurodegenerative diseases (NDs). Numerous evidences have shown that the structural diversity, so-called polymorphism, is decisive to the amyloid pathology and is closely associated with the onset, progression, and phenotype of ND. But how could one protein form so many stable structures? Recently, atomic structural evidence has been rapidly mounting to depict the involvement of chemical modifications in the amyloid fibril formation. In this Perspective, we aim to present a hierarchical regulation of chemical modifications including covalent post-translational modifications (PTMs) and noncovalent cofactor binding in governing the polymorphic amyloid formation, based mainly on the latest α-synuclein and Tau fibril structures. We hope to emphasize the determinant role of chemical modifications in amyloid assembly and pathology and to evoke chemical biological approaches to lead the fundamental and therapeutic research on protein amyloid state and the associated NDs.

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Fig. 1: Environment-sensitive amyloid fibril formation of Tau and α-syn proteins.
Fig. 2: Schematic of the hierarchical regulation of chemical modifications to amyloid fibril assembly.
Fig. 3: Chemical modifications in the regulation of α-syn fibril conformations.
Fig. 4: Chemical modifications in regulation of brain-extracted Tau fibril conformations.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Major State Basic Research Development Program (2016YFA0501902 to C.L.), the National Natural Science Foundation (NSF) of China (91853113 and 31872716 to C.L. and D.L.), the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (18JC1420500 to C.L.), “Eastern Scholar” project supported by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (D.L.), and the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (2019SHZDZX02 to C.L.).

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  1. Bio-X-Renji Hospital Research Center, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Dan Li

  2. Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Dan Li

  3. Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China

    Cong Liu

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Li, D., Liu, C. Hierarchical chemical determination of amyloid polymorphs in neurodegenerative disease. Nat Chem Biol 17, 237–245 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-020-00708-z

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