Membrane Permeabilization by Oligomeric α-Synuclein: In Search of the Mechanism

Background: \ud The question of how the aggregation of the neuronal protein α-synuclein contributes to neuronal toxicity in Parkinson's disease has been the subject of intensive research over the past decade. Recently, attention has shifted from the amyloid fibrils to soluble oligomeric intermediates in the α-synuclein aggregation process. These oligomers are hypothesized to be cytotoxic and to permeabilize cellular membranes, possibly by forming pore-like complexes in the bilayer. Although the subject of α-synuclein oligomer-membrane interactions has attracted much attention, there is only limited evidence that supports the pore formation by α-synuclein oligomers. In addition the existing data are contradictory.\ud \ud Methodology/Principal Findings:\ud Here we have studied the mechanism of lipid bilayer disruption by a well-characterized α-synuclein oligomer species in detail using a number of in vitro bilayer systems and assays. Dye efflux from vesicles induced by oligomeric α-synuclein was found to be a fast all-or-none process. Individual vesicles swiftly lose their contents but overall vesicle morphology remains unaltered. A newly developed assay based on a dextran-coupled dye showed that non-equilibrium processes dominate the disruption of the vesicles. The membrane is highly permeable to solute influx directly after oligomer addition, after which membrane integrity is partly restored. The permeabilization of the membrane is possibly related to the intrinsic instability of the bilayer. Vesicles composed of negatively charged lipids, which are generally used for measuring α-synuclein-lipid interactions, were unstable to protein adsorption in general.\ud \ud Conclusions/Significance:\ud The dye efflux from negatively charged vesicles upon addition of α-synuclein has been hypothesized to occur through the formation of oligomeric membrane pores. However, our results show that the dye efflux characteristics are consistent with bilayer defects caused by membrane instability. These data shed new insights into potential mechanisms of toxicity of oligomeric α-synuclein species

Membrane Association of the PTEN Tumor Suppressor: Molecular Details of the Protein-Membrane Complex from SPR Binding Studies and Neutron Reflection

The structure and function of the PTEN phosphatase is investigated by studying its membrane affinity and localization on in-plane fluid, thermally disordered synthetic membrane models. The membrane association of the protein depends strongly on membrane composition, where phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylinositol diphosphate (PI(4,5)P2) act pronouncedly synergistic in pulling the enzyme to the membrane surface. The equilibrium dissociation constants for the binding of wild type (wt) PTEN to PS and PI(4,5)P2 were determined to be Kd∼12 µM and 0.4 µM, respectively, and Kd∼50 nM if both lipids are present. Membrane affinities depend critically on membrane fluidity, which suggests multiple binding sites on the protein for PI(4,5)P2. The PTEN mutations C124S and H93R show binding affinities that deviate strongly from those measured for the wt protein. Both mutants bind PS more strongly than wt PTEN. While C124S PTEN has at least the same affinity to PI(4,5)P2 and an increased apparent affinity to PI(3,4,5)P3, due to its lack of catalytic activity, H93R PTEN shows a decreased affinity to PI(4,5)P2 and no synergy in its binding with PS and PI(4,5)P2. Neutron reflection measurements show that the PTEN phosphatase “scoots" along the membrane surface (penetration <5 Å) but binds the membrane tightly with its two major domains, the C2 and phosphatase domains, as suggested by the crystal structure. The regulatory C-terminal tail is most likely displaced from the membrane and organized on the far side of the protein, ∼60 Å away from the bilayer surface, in a rather compact structure. The combination of binding studies and neutron reflection allows us to distinguish between PTEN mutant proteins and ultimately may identify the structural features required for membrane binding and activation of PTEN

Point Mutations in Aβ Result in the Formation of Distinct Polymorphic Aggregates in the Presence of Lipid Bilayers

A hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the rearrangement of the β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide to a non-native conformation that promotes the formation of toxic, nanoscale aggregates. Recent studies have pointed to the role of sample preparation in creating polymorphic fibrillar species. One of many potential pathways for Aβ toxicity may be modulation of lipid membrane function on cellular surfaces. There are several mutations clustered around the central hydrophobic core of Aβ near the α-secretase cleavage site (E22G Arctic mutation, E22K Italian mutation, D23N Iowa mutation, and A21G Flemish mutation). These point mutations are associated with hereditary diseases ranging from almost pure cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) to typical Alzheimer's disease pathology with plaques and tangles. We investigated how these point mutations alter Aβ aggregation in the presence of supported lipid membranes comprised of total brain lipid extract. Brain lipid extract bilayers were used as a physiologically relevant model of a neuronal cell surface. Intact lipid bilayers were exposed to predominantly monomeric preparations of Wild Type or different mutant forms of Aβ, and atomic force microscopy was used to monitor aggregate formation and morphology as well as bilayer integrity over a 12 hour period. The goal of this study was to determine how point mutations in Aβ, which alter peptide charge and hydrophobic character, influence interactions between Aβ and the lipid surface. While fibril morphology did not appear to be significantly altered when mutants were prepped similarly and incubated under free solution conditions, aggregation in the lipid membranes resulted in a variety of polymorphic aggregates in a mutation dependent manner. The mutant peptides also had a variable ability to disrupt bilayer integrity

The role of surface free energy on the formation of hybrid bilayer membranes

The interaction of small phospholipid vesicles with well-characterized surfaces has been studied to assess the effect of the surface free energy of the underlying monolayer on the formation of phospholipid/alkanethiol hybrid bilayer membranes (HBMs). The surface free energy was changed in a systematic manner using single-component alkanethiol monolayers and monolayers of binary mixtures of thiols. The binary surfaces were prepared on gold by self-assembly from binary solutions of the thiols HS-(CH(2))(n)()-X (n = 11, X = CH(3) or OH) in THF. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR), electrical capacitance, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements were used to characterize the interaction of palmitoyl,oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPC) vesicles with the surfaces. For all surfaces examined, it appears that the polar part of surface energy influences the nature of the POPC assembly that associates with the surface. Comparison of optical, capacitance, and AFM data suggests that vesicles can remain intact or partially intact even at surfaces with a contact angle with water of close to 100 degrees. In addition, comparison of the alkanethiols of different chain lengths and the fluorinated compound HS-(CH(2))(2)-(CF(2))(8)-CF(3) that characterize with a low value of the polar part of the surface energy suggests that the quality of the underlying monolayer in terms of number of defects has a significant influence on the packing density of the resulting HBM layer