Integrative determination of atomic structure of mutant huntingtin exon 1 fibrils implicated in Huntington disease

Mahdi Bagherpoor Helabad, Irina Matlahov, Raj Kumar, Jan O. Daldrop, Greeshma Jain, Markus Weingarth, Patrick C. A. Wel () and Markus S. Miettinen ()
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Mahdi Bagherpoor Helabad: Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
Irina Matlahov: University of Groningen
Raj Kumar: University of Utrecht
Jan O. Daldrop: Freie Universität Berlin
Greeshma Jain: University of Groningen
Markus Weingarth: University of Utrecht
Patrick C. A. Wel: University of Groningen
Markus S. Miettinen: Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Abstract Neurodegeneration in Huntington’s disease (HD) is accompanied by the aggregation of fragments of the mutant huntingtin protein, a biomarker of disease progression. A particular pathogenic role has been attributed to the aggregation-prone huntingtin exon 1 (HTTex1), generated by aberrant splicing or proteolysis, and containing the expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) segment. Unlike amyloid fibrils from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, the atomic-level structure of HTTex1 fibrils has remained unknown, limiting diagnostic and treatment efforts. We present and analyze the structure of fibrils formed by polyQ peptides and polyQ-expanded HTTex1 in vitro. Atomic-resolution perspectives are enabled by an integrative analysis and unrestrained all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations incorporating experimental data from electron microscopy (EM), solid-state NMR, and other techniques. Alongside the use of prior data, we report magic angle spinning NMR studies of glutamine residues of the polyQ fibril core and surface, distinguished via hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX). Our study provides a molecular understanding of the structure of the core as well as surface of aggregated HTTex1, including the fuzzy coat and polyQ–water interface. The obtained data are discussed in context of their implications for understanding the detection of such aggregates (diagnostics) as well as known biological properties of the fibrils.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55062-8

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