No abstract

Aging is a major risk factor for both genetic and sporadic neurodegenerative disorders. However, it is unclear how aging interacts with genetic predispositions to promote neurodegeneration. Here, we investigate how partial loss of function of TBK1, a major genetic cause for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) comorbidity, leads to age-dependent neurodegeneration. We show that TBK1 is an endogenous inhibitor of RIPK1 and the embryonic lethality of Tbk1 mice is dependent on RIPK1 kinase activity. In aging human brains, another endogenous RIPK1 inhibitor, TAK1, exhibits a marked decrease in expression. We show that in Tbk1 mice, the reduced myeloid TAK1 expression promotes all the key hallmarks of ALS/FTD, including neuroinflammation, TDP-43 aggregation, axonal degeneration, neuronal loss, and behavior deficits, which are blocked upon inhibition of RIPK1. Thus, aging facilitates RIPK1 activation by reducing TAK1 expression, which cooperates with genetic risk factors to promote the onset of ALS/FTD.

Beclin 1 is a core component of the Class III Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase VPS34 complex. The coiled coil domain of Beclin 1 serves as an interaction platform for assembly of distinct Atg14L- and UVRAG-containing complexes to modulate VPS34 activity. Here we report the crystal structure of the coiled coil domain that forms an antiparallel dimer and is rendered metastable by a series of 'imperfect' a-d' pairings at its coiled coil interface. Atg14L and UVRAG promote the transition of metastable homodimeric Beclin 1 to heterodimeric Beclin1-Atg14L/UVRAG assembly. Beclin 1 mutants with their 'imperfect' a-d' pairings modified to enhance self-interaction, show distinctively altered interactions with Atg14L or UVRAG. These results suggest that specific utilization of the dimer interface and modulation of the homodimer–heterodimer transition by Beclin 1-interacting partners may underlie the molecular mechanism that controls the formation of various Beclin1–VPS34 subcomplexes to exert their effect on an array of VPS34-related activities, including autophagy.

Missense mutations in the gene TP53, which encodes p53, one of the most important tumor suppressors, are common in human cancers. Accumulated mutant p53 proteins are known to actively contribute to tumor development and metastasis. Thus, promoting the removal of mutant p53 proteins in cancer cells may have therapeutic significance. Here we investigated the mechanisms that govern the turnover of mutant p53 in nonproliferating tumor cells using a combination of pharmacological and genetic approaches. We show that suppression of macroautophagy by multiple means promotes the degradation of mutant p53 through chaperone-mediated autophagy in a lysosome-dependent fashion. In addition, depletion of mutant p53 expression due to macroautophagy inhibition sensitizes the death of dormant cancer cells under nonproliferating conditions. Taken together, our results delineate a novel strategy for killing tumor cells that depend on mutant p53 expression by the activation of chaperone-mediated autophagy and potential pharmacological means to reduce the levels of accumulated mutant p53 without the restriction of mutant p53 conformation in quiescent tumor cells.

The unconventional myosin VIIa (MYO7A) is one of the five proteins that form a network of complexes involved in formation of stereocilia. Defects in these proteins cause syndromic deaf-blindness in humans [Usher syndrome I (USH1)]. Many disease-causing mutations occur in myosin tail homology 4-protein 4.1, ezrin, radixin, moesin (MyTH4-FERM) domains in the myosin tail that binds to another USH1 protein, Sans. We report the crystal structure of MYO7A MyTH4-FERM domains in complex with the central domain (CEN) of Sans at 2.8 angstrom resolution. The MyTH4 and FERM domains form an integral structural and functional supramodule binding to two highly conserved segments (CEN1 and 2) of Sans. The MyTH4-FERM/CEN complex structure provides mechanistic explanations for known deafness-causing mutations in MYO7A MyTH4-FERM. The structure will also facilitate mechanistic and functional studies of MyTH4-FERM domains in other myosins.

The hereditary hearing-vision loss disease, Usher syndrome I (USH1), is caused by defects in several proteins that can interact with each other in vitro. Defects in USH1 proteins are thought to be responsible for the developmental and functional impairments of sensory cells in the retina and inner ear. Harmonin/USH1C and Sans/USH1G are two of the USH1 proteins that interact with each other. Harmonin also binds to other USH1 proteins such as cadherin 23 (CDH23) and protocadherin 15 (PCDH15). However, the molecular basis governing the harmonin and Sans interaction is largely unknown. Here, we report an unexpected assembly mode between harmonin and Sans. We demonstrate that the N-terminal domain and the first PDZ domain of harmonin are tethered by a small-domain C-terminal to PDZ1 to form a structural and functional supramodule responsible for binding to Sans. We discover that the SAM domain of Sans, specifically, binds to the PDZ domain of harmonin, revealing previously unknown interaction modes for both PDZ and SAM domains. We further show that the synergistic PDZ1/SAM and PDZ1/carboxyl PDZ binding-motif interactions, between harmonin and Sans, lock the two scaffold proteins into a highly stable complex. Mutations in harmonin and Sans found in USH1 patients are shown to destabilize the complex formation of the two proteins.PDZ | SAM domain | scaffold proteins | USH1C | USH1G

The Diels-Alder [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction is one of the most powerful and elegant organic synthesis methods for forming 6-membered molecules and has been known for nearly a century. However, whether and how enzymes catalyze this type of reaction is still not completely clear. Here we focus on PyrI4, an enzyme found in the biosynthetic pathway of pyrroindomycins where it catalyzes the formation of a spiro-conjugate via an enzyme-dependent exo-selective [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction. We report the crystal structures of PyrI4 alone and in complex with its product. Comparative analysis of these structures, combined with biochemical analysis, lead us to propose a unique trapping mechanism whereby the lid-like action of the N-terminal tail imposes conformational constraints on the β barrel catalytic core, which enhances the proximity and polarization effects of reactive groups (1,3-diene and alkene) to drive cyclization in a regio- and stereo-specific manner. This work represents an important step toward the wider application of enzyme-catalyzed [4 + 2] cyclization for synthetic purposes.

jMutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 gene (LRRK2) are associated with familial and sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD). LRRK2 is a complex protein that consists of multiple domains, including predicted C-terminal WD40 repeats. In this study, we analyzed functional and molecular features conferred by the WD40 domain. Electron microscopic analysis of the purified LRRK2 C-terminal domain revealed doughnut-shaped particles, providing experimental evidence for its WD40 fold. We demonstrate that LRRK2 WD40 binds and sequesters synaptic vesicles via interaction with vesicle-associated proteins. In fact, a domain-based pulldown approach combined with mass spectrometric analysis identified LRRK2 as being part of a highly specific protein network involved in synaptic vesicle trafficking. In addition, we found that a C-terminal sequence variant associated with an increased risk of developing PD, G2385R, correlates with a reduced binding affinity of LRRK2 WD40 to synaptic vesicles. Our data demonstrate a critical role of the WD40 domain within LRRK2 function. Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common age-related neurodegenerative disease and is clinically characterized by movement impairments, bradykinesia, rigidity, and resting tremor and pathologically by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and the formation of Lewy bodies (1, 2). Although the majority of cases are sporadic, mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene (PARK8; Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man [OMIM] accession number 609007) had been unequivocally linked to late-onset autosomal dominant PD. LRRK2 mutations account for up to 13% of familial PD cases compatible with dominant inheritance and are also found in 1 to 2% of sporadic PD patients (62-64). LRRK2 is a complex 286-kDa protein that consists of multiple domains, including (in order, from the amino to carboxyl terminus) armadillo, ankyrin, and the namesake leucine-rich repeats (LRRs), followed by an ROC (Ras of complex proteins) GTPase domain, a COR (C-terminal of ROC) dimerization domain, a kinase domain, and a predicted C-terminal WD40 repeat domain (4-6). Several single-nucleotide alterations have been identified in LRRK2, but only five missense mutations within the ROC, COR, and kinase domains clearly segregate with PD in large family studies (7,8). It has recently been shown that the WD40 domain is required to stabilize the LRRK2 dimer and to execute LRRK2-associated kinase activity as well as neurotoxicity (9, 10), but the role of this domain within LRRK2 physiological and pathological function has not yet been completely defined. The beta-propellerforming WD40 domains are among the 10 most abundant domain types across eukaryotic proteomes (11) and constitute platforms where multiprotein complexes assemble reversibly (12). Here, we systematically analyzed the protein-protein interactions conferred by the LRRK2 WD40 domain. The nature of the LRRK2 WD40 interactors and the finding that the LRRK2 WD40 domain is able to bind to synaptic...