Elucidation of primary structure elements controlling early amyloid β-protein oligomerization

Assembly of monomeric amyloid beta-protein (Abeta) into oligomeric structures is an important pathogenetic feature of Alzheimer's disease. The oligomer size distributions of aggregate-free, low molecular weight Abeta40 and Abeta42 can be assessed quantitatively using the technique of photo-induced cross-linking of unmodified proteins. This approach revealed that low molecular weight Abeta40 is a mixture of monomer, dimer, trimer, and tetramer, in rapid equilibrium, whereas low molecular weight Abeta42 preferentially exists as pentamer/hexamer units ( paranuclei), which self-associate to form larger oligomers. Here, photo-induced cross-linking of unmodified proteins was used to evaluate systematically the oligomerization of 34 physiologically relevant Abeta alloforms, including those containing familial Alzheimer's disease-linked amino acid substitutions, naturally occurring N-terminal truncations, and modifications altering the charge, the hydrophobicity, or the conformation of the peptide. The most important structural feature controlling early oligomerization was the length of the C terminus. Specifically, the side-chain of residue 41 in Abeta42 was important both for effective formation of paranuclei and for self-association of paranuclei into larger oligomers. The side-chain of residue 42, and the C-terminal carboxyl group, affected paranucleus self-association. Abeta40 oligomerization was particularly sensitive to substitutions of Glu(22) or Asp(23) and to truncation of the N terminus, but not to substitutions of Phe(19) or Ala(21). Abeta42 oligomerization, in contrast, was largely unaffected by substitutions at positions 22 or 23 or by N-terminal truncations, but was affected significantly by substitutions of Phe19 or Ala21. These results reveal how specific regions and residues control Abeta oligomerization and show that these controlling elements differ between Abeta40 and Abeta42.