Research article
A glycine zipper motif mediates the formation of toxic β-amyloid oligomers in vitro and in vivo
1 Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
2 Neurobiology and Physiology Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA
3 Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY 10065, USA
4 Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
5 Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
6 Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Molecular Neurodegeneration 2011, 6:61 doi:10.1186/1750-1326-6-61
Published: 23 August 2011Abstract
Background
The β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) contains a Gly-XXX-Gly-XXX-Gly motif in its C-terminal region that has been proposed to form a "glycine zipper" that drives the formation of toxic Aβ oligomers. We have tested this hypothesis by examining the toxicity of Aβ variants containing substitutions in this motif using a neuronal cell line, primary neurons, and a transgenic C. elegans model.
Results
We found that a Gly37Leu substitution dramatically reduced Aβ toxicity in all models tested, as measured by cell dysfunction, cell death, synaptic alteration, or tau phosphorylation. We also demonstrated in multiple models that Aβ Gly37Leu is actually anti-toxic, thereby supporting the hypothesis that interference with glycine zipper formation blocks assembly of toxic Aβ oligomers. To test this model rigorously, we engineered second site substitutions in Aβ predicted by the glycine zipper model to compensate for the Gly37Leu substitution and expressed these in C. elegans. We show that these second site substitutions restore in vivo Aβtoxicity, further supporting the glycine zipper model.
Conclusions
Our structure/function studies support the view that the glycine zipper motif present in the C-terminal portion of Aβ plays an important role in the formation of toxic Aβ oligomers. Compounds designed to interfere specifically with formation of the glycine zipper could have therapeutic potential.
