Nascent chains can form co-translational folding intermediates that promote post-translational folding outcomes in a disease-causing protein

Elena Plessa, Lien P. Chu, Sammy H. S. Chan, Oliver L. Thomas, Anaïs M. E. Cassaignau, Christopher A. Waudby, John Christodoulou () and Lisa D. Cabrita ()
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Elena Plessa: University College London
Lien P. Chu: University College London
Sammy H. S. Chan: University College London
Oliver L. Thomas: University College London
Anaïs M. E. Cassaignau: University College London
Christopher A. Waudby: University College London
John Christodoulou: University College London
Lisa D. Cabrita: University College London

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract During biosynthesis, proteins can begin folding co-translationally to acquire their biologically-active structures. Folding, however, is an imperfect process and in many cases misfolding results in disease. Less is understood of how misfolding begins during biosynthesis. The human protein, alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT) folds under kinetic control via a folding intermediate; its pathological variants readily form self-associated polymers at the site of synthesis, leading to alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency. We observe that AAT nascent polypeptides stall during their biosynthesis, resulting in full-length nascent chains that remain bound to ribosome, forming a persistent ribosome-nascent chain complex (RNC) prior to release. We analyse the structure of these RNCs, which reveals compacted, partially-folded co-translational folding intermediates possessing molten-globule characteristics. We find that the highly-polymerogenic mutant, Z AAT, forms a distinct co-translational folding intermediate relative to wild-type. Its very modest structural differences suggests that the ribosome uniquely tempers the impact of deleterious mutations during nascent chain emergence. Following nascent chain release however, these co-translational folding intermediates guide post-translational folding outcomes thus suggesting that Z’s misfolding is initiated from co-translational structure. Our findings demonstrate that co-translational folding intermediates drive how some proteins fold under kinetic control, and may thus also serve as tractable therapeutic targets for human disease.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26531-1

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