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Layers of structure and function in protein aggregation

Nature Chemical Biology volume 11, pages 373–377 (2015)Cite this article

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Protein aggregation is a central hallmark of many neurodegenerative disorders, but the relationship of aggregate structural diversity to the resultant cellular cytotoxicity and phenotypic diversity has remained obscure. Recent advances in understanding the mechanisms of protein aggregation and their physiological consequences have been achieved through chemical biology approaches, such as rationally designed protein modifications and chemical probes, providing crucial mechanistic insights and promise for therapeutic strategies for brain disorders.

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Figure 1: Structural polymorphism of monomeric and misfolded proteins as a molecular basis of the phenotypic diversity of neurodegenerative diseases.
Figure 2: Interventional strategy for neurodegenerative diseases through targeting of elementary processes associated with protein aggregates.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the collaborators that have contributed to our work in this research area. In our work, the funding was provided by the Next program (LS129; M.T.) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid from the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, Japan (the Research Committee of Prion Disease and Slow Virus Infection; M.T.) and from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT; Young Scientist (B) 25830025; Y.K.), Japan.

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  1. Motomasa Tanaka and Yusuke Komi are at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako City, Japan.,

    Motomasa Tanaka & Yusuke Komi

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  1. Motomasa Tanaka
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Correspondence to Motomasa Tanaka.

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Tanaka, M., Komi, Y. Layers of structure and function in protein aggregation. Nat Chem Biol 11, 373–377 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1818

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