The role of the disulfide bond in the interaction of islet amyloid polypeptide with membranes

Human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) forms amyloid fibrils in pancreatic islets of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. It has been suggested that the N-terminal part, which contains a conserved intramolecular disulfide bond between residues 2 and 7, interacts with membranes, ultimately leading to membrane damage and β-cell death. Here, we used variants of the hIAPP1–19 fragment and model membranes of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylserine (7:3, molar ratio) to examine the role of this disulfide in membrane interactions. We found that the disulfide bond has a minor effect on membrane insertion properties and peptide conformational behavior, as studied by monolayer techniques, 2H NMR, ThT-fluorescence, membrane leakage, and CD spectroscopy. The results suggest that the disulfide bond does not play a significant role in hIAPP–membrane interactions. Hence, the fact that this bond is conserved is most likely related exclusively to the biological activity of IAPP as a hormone

?2-Microglobulin Amyloid Fibril-Induced Membrane Disruption Is Enhanced by Endosomal Lipids and Acidic pH

Although the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathology of amyloidoses are not well understood, the interaction between amyloid proteins and cell membranes is thought to play a role in several amyloid diseases. Amyloid fibrils of ?2-microglobulin (?2m), associated with dialysis-related amyloidosis (DRA), have been shown to cause disruption of anionic lipid bilayers in vitro. However, the effect of lipid composition and the chemical environment in which ?2m-lipid interactions occur have not been investigated previously. Here we examine membrane damage resulting from the interaction of ?2m monomers and fibrils with lipid bilayers. Using dye release, tryptophan fluorescence quenching and fluorescence confocal microscopy assays we investigate the effect of anionic lipid composition and pH on the susceptibility of liposomes to fibril-induced membrane damage. We show that ?2m fibril-induced membrane disruption is modulated by anionic lipid composition and is enhanced by acidic pH. Most strikingly, the greatest degree of membrane disruption is observed for liposomes containing bis(monoacylglycero)phosphate (BMP) at acidic pH, conditions likely to reflect those encountered in the endocytic pathway. The results suggest that the interaction between ?2m fibrils and membranes of endosomal origin may play a role in the molecular mechanism of ?2m amyloid-associated osteoarticular tissue destruction in DRA

Direct Observation of Defects and Increased Ion Permeability of a Membrane Induced by Structurally Disordered Cu/Zn-Superoxide Dismutase Aggregates

Interactions between protein aggregates and a cellular membrane have been strongly implicated in many protein conformational diseases. However, such interactions for the case of Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) protein, which is related to fatal neurodegenerative disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), have not been explored yet. For the first time, we report the direct observation of defect formation and increased ion permeability of a membrane induced by SOD1 aggregates using a supported lipid bilayer and membrane patches of human embryonic kidney cells as model membranes. We observed that aggregated SOD1 significantly induced the formation of defects within lipid membranes and caused the perturbation of membrane permeability, based on surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and electrophysiology. In the case of apo SOD1 with an unfolded structure, we found that it bound to the lipid membrane surface and slightly perturbed membrane permeability, compared to other folded proteins (holo SOD1 and bovine serum albumin). The changes in membrane integrity and permeability were found to be strongly dependent on the type of proteins and the amount of aggregates present. We expect that the findings presented herein will advance our understanding of the pathway by which structurally disordered SOD1 aggregates exert toxicity in vivo