The structural transition of the prion protein from α-helical- to β-sheet-rich underlies its conversion into infectious and disease-associated isoforms. Here we describe the crystal structure of a fragment from human prion protein consisting of the disulfide-bond-linked portions of helices 2 and 3. Instead of forming a pair-of-sheets steric zipper structure characteristic of amyloid fibers, this fragment crystallized into a β-sheet-rich assembly of hexameric oligomers. This study reveals a never before observed structural motif for ordered protein aggregates and suggests a possible mechanism for self-propagation of misfolded conformations by such nonamyloid oligomers.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja403001q | DOI Listing |
J Clin Med
January 2025
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare, fatal, and transmissible neurodegenerative disorder caused by prion proteins. Handling specimens from individuals with suspected or confirmed cases presents a safety challenge to hospital workers including clinical laboratory staff. As no national guidelines exist, the clinical pathology laboratory must establish protocols for handling these specimens to ensure sufficient protective measures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
January 2025
National Neuroscience Institute of Singapore, 11 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore 30843, Singapore.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the world. Currently, PD is incurable, and the diagnosis of PD mainly relies on clinical manifestations. The central pathological event in PD is the abnormal aggregation and deposition of misfolded α-synuclein (α-Syn) protein aggregates in the Lewy body (LB) in affected brain areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Plant
January 2025
Leibniz Institut für Gemüse und Zierpflanzenbau (IGZ) e.V., Großbeeren, Germany; Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany. Electronic address:
Plants are able to sense and remember heat stress. An initial priming heat stress enables plants to acclimate so that they are able to survive a subsequent higher temperature. The heatshock transcription factors (HSFs) play a crucial role in this process, but the mechanisms by which plants sense heat stress are not well understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Neurogenet
January 2025
Institute of Prion Diseases, MRC Prion Unit at University College London, London, UK.
Inherited prion diseases (IPD) secondary to mutations of the prion protein gene, exhibit diverse clinical phenotypes, capable of mimicking numerous primary neurodegenerative conditions. We describe the clinical phenotype and neuropathological findings in a family from County Limerick in Ireland presenting with Alzheimer's disease-like cognitive decline and motor symptoms caused by a novel missense mutation of This mutation occurs in the central lysine cluster (CLC; codon 101-110), resulting in substitution of threonine with isoleucine at codon 107 (T107I). This case series highlights that IPD can be hard to distinguish from overlapping clinical syndromes seen in other neurodegenerative diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis
January 2025
Department of Medical Science and Biotechnology, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung City 82445, Taiwan. Electronic address:
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells have a high p53 mutation rate, but there were rare reported about the p53 gain of function through the prion-like aggregated form in p53 mutated HNSCC cells. Thioflavin T (ThT) is used to stain prion-like proteins in cells. Previously, we found that ThT and p53 staining were co-localized in HNSCC cells (Detroit 562 cells) with homozygous p53 R175H mutation.
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