Abstract
The epididymal lumen contains a complex cystatin-rich nonpathological amyloid matrix with putative roles in sperm maturation and sperm protection. Given our growing understanding for the biological function of this and other functional amyloids, the problem still remains: how functional amyloids assemble including their initial transition to early oligomeric forms. To examine this, we developed a protocol for the purification of nondenatured mouse CRES, a component of the epididymal amyloid matrix, allowing us to examine its assembly to amyloid under conditions that may mimic those in vivo. Herein we use X-ray crystallography, solution-state NMR, and solid-state NMR to follow at the atomic level the assembly of the CRES amyloidogenic precursor as it progressed from monomeric folded protein to an advanced amyloid. We show the CRES monomer has a typical cystatin fold that assembles into highly branched amyloid matrices, comparable to those in vivo, by forming β-sheet assemblies that our data suggest occur via two distinct mechanisms: a unique conformational switch of a highly flexible disulfide-anchored loop to a rigid β-strand and by traditional cystatin domain swapping. Our results provide key insight into our understanding of functional amyloid assembly by revealing the earliest structural transitions from monomer to oligomer and by showing that some functional amyloid structures may be built by multiple and distinctive assembly mechanisms.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 16363-16372 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 117 |
Issue number | 28 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 14 2020 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2020 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Keywords
- Amyloid
- Cystatin
- NMR spectroscopy
- X-ray crystallography