TY - JOUR TI - Control of the structural landscape and neuronal proteotoxicity of mutant Huntingtin by domains flanking the polyQ tract AU - Shen, Koning AU - Calamini, Barbara AU - Fauerbach, Jonathan A AU - Ma, Boxue AU - Shahmoradian, Sarah H AU - Serrano Lachapel, Ivana L AU - Chiu, Wah AU - Lo, Donald C AU - Frydman, Judith A2 - Kelly, Jeffery W VL - 5 PY - 2016 DA - 2016/10/18 SP - e18065 C1 - eLife 2016;5:e18065 DO - 10.7554/eLife.18065 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.18065 AB - Many neurodegenerative diseases are linked to amyloid aggregation. In Huntington’s disease (HD), neurotoxicity correlates with an increased aggregation propensity of a polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion in exon 1 of mutant huntingtin protein (mHtt). Here we establish how the domains flanking the polyQ tract shape the mHtt conformational landscape in vitro and in neurons. In vitro, the flanking domains have opposing effects on the conformation and stabilities of oligomers and amyloid fibrils. The N-terminal N17 promotes amyloid fibril formation, while the C-terminal Proline Rich Domain destabilizes fibrils and enhances oligomer formation. However, in neurons both domains act synergistically to engage protective chaperone and degradation pathways promoting mHtt proteostasis. Surprisingly, when proteotoxicity was assessed in rat corticostriatal brain slices, either flanking region alone sufficed to generate a neurotoxic conformation, while the polyQ tract alone exhibited minimal toxicity. Linking mHtt structural properties to its neuronal proteostasis should inform new strategies for neuroprotection in polyQ-expansion diseases. KW - Huntington's disease KW - proteostasis KW - aggregation JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -