ATTR amyloidosis is a fatal disease associated with the accumulation of transthyretin (ATTR) fibrils that lead to organ failure and death. Mutations in the TTR gene or aging may accelerate the deposition of variant (ATTRv) or wild-type (ATTRwt) transthyretin, respectively. Although ATTR amyloidosis patients accumulate ATTR fibrils in virtually every organ, the clinical presentation is often unpredictable and variable. Recent studies in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) have revealed that in tauopathies and synucleinopathies, diseases involving amyloidosis of tau and α-synuclein, respectively, all the patients of the same disease display the same fibril fold, or polymorph. In this study, we use cryo-EM to explore whether fibrils from heart tissue of different patients with cardiac ATTR amyloidosis share a common fold. We determined the molecular structures of fibrils extracted from the hearts of seven patients, including both ATTRv and ATTRwt carriers, at resolutions of 3.0 to 3.7 Å. We found that ATTRv mutations perturb the fibril conformation whereas ATTRwt fibrils share a common structure fold. Our findings suggest that unlike in tauopathies and synucleinopathies, ATTRv fibrils display structural polymorphism driven by each individual and their genotypes. ATTR polymorphism challenges the current paradigm of ″one disease equals one fibril polymorph,″ and questions whether similarly novel conformations occur in other amyloidoses.

Molecular chaperones, including Hsp70/J-domain protein (JDP) families, play central roles in binding substrates to prevent their aggregation. How JDPs select different conformations of substrates remains poorly understood. Here, we report an interaction between the JDP DnaJC7 and tau that efficiently suppresses tau aggregation in vitro and in cells. DnaJC7 binds preferentially to natively folded wild-type tau, but disease-associated mutants in tau reduce chaperone binding affinity. We identify that DnaJC7 uses a single TPR domain to recognize a β-turn structural element in tau that contains the 275VQIINK280 amyloid motif. Wild-type tau, but not mutant, β-turn structural elements can block full-length tau binding to DnaJC7. These data suggest DnaJC7 preferentially binds and stabilizes natively folded conformations of tau to prevent tau conversion into amyloids. Our work identifies a novel mechanism of tau aggregation regulation that can be exploited as both a diagnostic and a therapeutic intervention.

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genome is evolving as the viral pandemic continues its active phase around the world. The Papain-like protease (PLpro) is a domain of Nsp3 – a large multi-domain protein that is an essential component of the replication-transcription complex, making it a good therapeutic target. PLpro is a multi-functional protein encoded in coronaviruses that can cleave viral polyproteins, poly-ubiquitin and protective Interferon Stimulated Gene 15 product, ISG15, which mimics a head-to-tail linked ubiquitin (Ub) dimer. PLpro across coronavirus families showed divergent selectivity for recognition and cleavage of these protein substrates despite sequence conservation. However, it is not clear how sequence changes in SARS-CoV-2 PLpro alter its selectivity for substrates and what outcome this has on the pathogenesis of the virus. We show that SARS-CoV-2 PLpro preferentially binds ISG15 over Ub and K48-linked Ub2. We determined crystal structures of PLpro in complex with human K48-Ub2 and ISG15 revealing that dual domain recognition of ISG15 drives substrate selectivity over Ub and Ub2. We also characterized the PLpro substrate interactions using solution NMR, cross-linking mass spectrometry to support that ISG15 is recognized via two domains while Ub2 binds primarily through one Ub domain. Finally, energetic analysis of the binding interfaces between PLpro from SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 with ISG15 and Ub2 define the sequence determinants for how PLpros from different coronaviruses recognize two topologically distinct substrates and how evolution of the protease altered its substrate selectivity. Our work reveals how PLpro substrate selectivity may evolve in PLpro coronaviruses variants enabling design of more effective therapeutics.

The Papain-like protease (PLpro) is a domain of a multi-functional, non-structural protein 3 of coronaviruses. PLpro cleaves viral polyproteins and posttranslational conjugates with poly-ubiquitin and protective ISG15, composed of two ubiquitin-like (UBL) domains. Across coronaviruses, PLpro showed divergent selectivity for recognition and cleavage of posttranslational conjugates despite sequence conservation. We show that SARS-CoV-2 PLpro binds human ISG15 and K48-linked di-ubiquitin (K48-Ub2) with nanomolar affinity and detect alternate weaker-binding modes. Crystal structures of untethered PLpro complexes with ISG15 and K48-Ub2 combined with solution NMR and cross-linking mass spectrometry revealed how the two domains of ISG15 or K48-Ub2 are differently utilized in interactions with PLpro. Analysis of protein interface energetics predicted differential binding stabilities of the two UBL/Ub domains that were validated experimentally. We emphasize how substrate recognition can be tuned to cleave specifically ISG15 or K48-Ub2 modifications while retaining capacity to cleave mono-Ub conjugates. These results highlight alternative druggable surfaces that would inhibit PLpro function.