期刊
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
卷 98, 期 6, 页码 2985-2989出版社
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.061555898
关键词
-
资金
- NIA NIH HHS [AG02132, P01 AG002132] Funding Source: Medline
- NIGMS NIH HHS [GM50789, R29 GM050789, R01 GM050789] Funding Source: Medline
Under certain conditions, the prion protein (PrP) undergoes a conformational change from the normal cellular isoform, PrPC, to PrPSc, an infectious isoform capable of causing neurodegenerative diseases in many mammals. Conversion can be triggered by low pH, and in vivo this appears to take place in an endocytic pathway and/or caveolae-like domains. It has thus far been impossible to characterize the conformational change at high resolution by experimental methods. Therefore, to investigate the effect of acidic pH on PrP conformation, we have performed 10-ns molecular dynamics simulations of PrPC in water at neutral and low pH. The core of the protein is well maintained at neutral pH. At low pH, however, the protein is more dynamic, and the sheet-like structure increases both by lengthening of the native beta -sheet and by addition of a portion of the N terminus to widen the sheet by another two strands. The side chain of Met-129, a polymorphic codon in humans associated with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, pulls the N terminus into the sheet. Neutralization of Asp-178 at low pH removes interactions that inhibit conversion, which is consistent with the Asp-178-Asn mutation causing human prion diseases.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据