The alpha-synuclein (αSyn) seeding amplification assay (SAA) that allows the generation of disease-specific in vitro seeded fibrils (SAA fibrils) is used as a research tool to study the connection between the structure of αSyn fibrils, cellular seeding/spreading, and the clinicopathological manifestations of different synucleinopathies. However, structural differences between human brain-derived and SAA αSyn fibrils have been recently highlighted. Here, we characterize the biophysical properties of the human brain-derived αSyn fibrils from the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease with and without dementia (PD, PDD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), multiple system atrophy (MSA), and compare them to the ‘model’ SAA fibrils. We report that the brain-derived αSyn fibrils show distinct biochemical profiles, which were not replicated in the corresponding SAA fibrils. Furthermore, the brain-derived αSyn fibrils from all synucleinopathies displayed a mixture of ‘straight’ and ‘twisted’ microscopic structures. However, the PD, PDD, and DLB SAA fibrils had a ’straight’ structure, whereas MSA SAA fibrils showed a ‘twisted’ structure. Finally, the brain-derived αSyn fibrils from all four synucleinopathies were phosphorylated (S129). Interestingly, phosphorylated αSyn were carried over to the PDD and DLB SAA fibrils. Our findings demonstrate the limitation of the SAA fibrils modeling the brain-derived αSyn fibrils and pay attention to the necessity of deepening the understanding of the SAA fibrillation methodology.

Complexin determines magnitude and kinetics of synchronized secretion, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remained unclear. Here, we show that the hydrophobic face of the amphipathic helix at the C-terminus of Complexin II (CpxII, amino acids 115–134) binds to fusion-promoting SNARE proteins, prevents premature secretion, and allows vesicles to accumulate in a release-ready state in mouse chromaffin cells. Specifically, we demonstrate that an unrelated amphipathic helix functionally substitutes for the C-terminal domain (CTD) of CpxII and that amino acid substitutions on the hydrophobic side compromise the arrest of the pre-fusion intermediate. To facilitate synchronous vesicle fusion, the N-terminal domain (NTD) of CpxII (amino acids 1–27) specifically cooperates with synaptotagmin I (SytI), but not with synaptotagmin VII. Expression of CpxII rescues the slow release kinetics of the Ca²⁺-binding mutant Syt I R233Q, whereas the N-terminally truncated variant of CpxII further delays it. These results indicate that the CpxII NTD regulates mechanisms which are governed by the forward rate of Ca²⁺ binding to Syt I. Overall, our results shed new light on key molecular properties of CpxII that hinder premature exocytosis and accelerate synchronous exocytosis.