MOAG-4 promotes the aggregation of α-synuclein by competing with self-protective electrostatic interactions.

Aberrant protein aggregation underlies a variety of age-related neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Little is known, however, about the molecular mechanisms that modulate the aggregation process in the cellular environment. Recently, MOAG-4/SERF has been identified as a class of evolutionarily conserved proteins that positively regulates aggregate formation.

A versatile bacterial expression vector designed for single-step cloning of multiple DNA fragments using homologous recombination.

Production of recombinant proteins is the starting point for biochemical and biophysical analyses and requires methodology to efficiently proceed from gene sequence to purified protein. While optimized strategies for the efficient cloning of single-gene fragments for bacterial expression is available, efficient multiple DNA fragment cloning still presents a challenge. To facilitate this step, we have developed an efficient cloning strategy based on yeast homologous recombination cloning (YHRC) into the new pET-based bacterial expression vector pSUMO-YHRC.

Identification of MOAG-4/SERF as a regulator of age-related proteotoxicity.

Fibrillar protein aggregates are the major pathological hallmark of several incurable, age-related, neurodegenerative disorders. These aggregates typically contain aggregation-prone pathogenic proteins, such as amyloid-beta in Alzheimer's disease and alpha-synuclein in Parkinson's disease. It is, however, poorly understood how these aggregates are formed during cellular aging.