Somatostatin binds to the human amyloid β peptide and favors the formation of distinct oligomers
Abstract
The amyloid β peptide (Aβ) is a key player in the etiology of Alzheimer disease (AD), yet a systematic investigation of its molecular interactions has not been reported. Here we identified by quantitative mass spectrometry proteins in human brain extract that bind to oligomeric Aβ1-42 (oAβ1-42) and/or monomeric Aβ1-42 (mAβ1-42) baits. Remarkably, the cyclic neuroendocrine peptide somatostatin-14 (SST14) was observed to be the most selectively enriched oAβ1-42 binder. The binding interface comprises a central tryptophan within SST14 and the N-terminus of Aβ1-42. The presence of SST14 inhibited Aβ aggregation and masked the ability of several antibodies to detect Aβ. Notably, Aβ1-42, but not Aβ1-40, formed in the presence of SST14 oligomeric assemblies of 50 to 60 kDa that were visualized by gel electrophoresis, nanoparticle tracking analysis and electron microscopy. These findings may be relevant for Aβ-directed diagnostics and may signify a role of SST14 in the etiology of AD.
Data availability
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Gerold Schmitt-Ulms
Ontario Centres for Excellence
- Simon Sharpe
- Gerold Schmitt-Ulms
Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions (201600028)
- Holger Wille
- Gerold Schmitt-Ulms
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (G-15-0009148)
- Simon Sharpe
Canada Foundation for Innovation
- Gerold Schmitt-Ulms
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: The work was performed in strict accordance with University of Toronto animal care and biosafety recommendations. All mice were handled according to procedures approved (AUP4183.3) by the animal care committee at University Health Network overseeing work at the Krembil Discovery Centre (Toronto). The handling of samples and reagents followed biosafety procedures approved (208-S06-2) by the University of Toronto Biosafety Program.
Copyright
© 2017, Wang et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Metrics
-
- 2,787
- views
-
- 557
- downloads
-
- 37
- citations
Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.
Download links
Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)
Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)
Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)
Further reading
-
- Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
N 6,2’-O-dimethyladenosine (m6Am) is a modified nucleotide located at the first transcribed position in mRNA and snRNA that is essential for diverse physiological processes. m6Am mapping methods assume each gene uses a single start nucleotide. However, gene transcription usually involves multiple start sites, generating numerous 5’ isoforms. Thus, gene-level annotations cannot capture the diversity of m6Am modification in the transcriptome. Here, we describe CROWN-seq, which simultaneously identifies transcription-start nucleotides and quantifies m6Am stoichiometry for each 5’ isoform that initiates with adenosine. Using CROWN-seq, we map the m6Am landscape in nine human cell lines. Our findings reveal that m6Am is nearly always a high stoichiometry modification, with only a small subset of cellular mRNAs showing lower m6Am stoichiometry. We find that m6Am is associated with increased transcript expression and provide evidence that m6Am may be linked to transcription initiation associated with specific promoter sequences and initiation mechanisms. These data suggest a potential new function for m6Am in influencing transcription.
-
- Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
- Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
African trypanosomes are the causative agents of neglected tropical diseases affecting both humans and livestock. Disease control is highly challenging due to an increasing number of drug treatment failures. African trypanosomes are extracellular, blood-borne parasites that mainly rely on glycolysis for their energy metabolism within the mammalian host. Trypanosomal glycolytic enzymes are therefore of interest for the development of trypanocidal drugs. Here, we report the serendipitous discovery of a camelid single-domain antibody (sdAb aka Nanobody) that selectively inhibits the enzymatic activity of trypanosomatid (but not host) pyruvate kinases through an allosteric mechanism. By combining enzyme kinetics, biophysics, structural biology, and transgenic parasite survival assays, we provide a proof-of-principle that the sdAb-mediated enzyme inhibition negatively impacts parasite fitness and growth.