Simple deprotection of acetal type protecting groups under neutral conditions

The hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are characterized by cognitive decline and behavioral changes. The most prominent brain region affected by the progression of AD is the hippocampal formation. The pathogenesis involves a successive loss of hippocampal neurons accompanied by a decline in learning and memory consolidation mainly attributed to an accumulation of senile plaques. The amyloid precursor protein (APP) has been identified as precursor of Aβ-peptides, the main constituents of senile plaques. Until now, little is known about the physiological function of APP within the central nervous system. The allocation of APP to the proteome of the highly dynamic presynaptic active zone (PAZ) highlights APP as a yet unknown player in neuronal communication and signaling. In this study, we analyze the impact of APP deletion on the hippocampal PAZ proteome. The native hippocampal PAZ derived from APP mouse mutants (APP-KOs and NexCreAPP/APLP2-cDKOs) was isolated by subcellular fractionation and immunopurification. Subsequently, an isobaric labeling was performed using TMT6 for protein identification and quantification by high-resolution mass spectrometry. We combine bioinformatics tools and biochemical approaches to address the proteomics dataset and to understand the role of individual proteins. The impact of APP deletion on the hippocampal PAZ proteome was visualized by creating protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks that incorporated APP into the synaptic vesicle cycle, cytoskeletal organization, and calcium-homeostasis. The combination of subcellular fractionation, immunopurification, proteomic analysis, and bioinformatics allowed us to identify APP as structural and functional regulator in a context-sensitive manner within the hippocampal active zone network

The Proteome of the Murine Presynaptic Active Zone

The proteome of the presynaptic active zone controls neurotransmitter release and the short- and long-term structural and functional dynamics of the nerve terminal. The proteinaceous inventory of the presynaptic active zone has recently been reported. This review will evaluate the subcellular fractionation protocols and the proteomic approaches employed. A breakthrough for the identification of the proteome of the presynaptic active zone was the successful employment of antibodies directed against a cytosolic epitope of membrane integral synaptic vesicle proteins for the immunopurification of synaptic vesicles docked to the presynaptic plasma membrane. Combining immunopurification and subsequent analytical mass spectrometry, hundreds of proteins, including synaptic vesicle proteins, components of the presynaptic fusion and retrieval machinery, proteins involved in intracellular and extracellular signaling and a large variety of adhesion molecules, were identified. Numerous proteins regulating the rearrangement of the cytoskeleton are indicative of the functional and structural dynamics of the presynapse. This review will critically discuss both the experimental approaches and prominent protein candidates identified. Many proteins have not previously been assigned to the presynaptic release sites and may be directly involved in the short- and long-term structural modulation of the presynaptic compartment. The identification of proteinaceous constituents of the presynaptic active zone provides the basis for further analyzing the interaction of presynaptic proteins with their targets and opens novel insights into the functional role of these proteins in neuronal communication

APP deletion accounts for age-dependent changes in the bioenergetic metabolism and in hyperphosphorylated CaMKII at stimulated hippocampal presynaptic active zones

Synaptic release sites are characterized by exocytosis-competent synaptic vesicles tightly anchored to the presynaptic active zone (PAZ) whose proteome orchestrates the fast signaling events involved in synaptic vesicle cycle and plasticity. Allocation of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) to the PAZ proteome implicated a functional impact of APP in neuronal communication. In this study, we combined state-of-the-art proteomics, electrophysiology and bioinformatics to address protein abundance and functional changes at the native hippocampal PAZ in young and old APP-KO mice. We evaluated if APP deletion has an impact on the metabolic activity of presynaptic mitochondria. Furthermore, we quantified differences in the phosphorylation status after long-term-potentiation (LTP) induction at the purified native PAZ. We observed an increase in the phosphorylation of the signaling enzyme calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII) only in old APP-KO mice. During aging APP deletion is accompanied by a severe decrease in metabolic activity and hyperphosphorylation of CaMKII. This attributes an essential functional role to APP at hippocampal PAZ and putative molecular mechanisms underlying the age-dependent impairments in learning and memory in APP-KO mice

The interactome of the native hippocampal PAZ core proteome.

<p>A Proteins grouped according to their localization (localization layout). B Community structure layout (function) of the network. The size of the rings corresponds to the respective number of proteins. The color code corresponds to the pie chart diagram (cf. <a href="http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004832#pcbi.1004832.g001" target="_blank">Fig 1E</a>). C Impact of APP deletion on relative protein abundance mapped according to their localizations. D Impact of the APP-KO on relative protein abundance mapped according to the community structure. E Impact of the NexCre-cDKO on relative protein abundance mapped according to their localizations. F Impact of the NexCre-cDKO on relative protein abundance mapped according to the community structure. Change in abundance of more than ±10% is reflected by increasing sizes of nodes. The color code corresponds to the degree of up- (magenta) and downregulation (green). Nodes in yellow represent proteins with changes in abundance of less than ±10%. Each node (dot in the rings) within this network represents a protein and each edge (connection) represents a reported physical interaction between two proteins. Edges are bundled for clarity.</p

Relative abundance of proteins mapped to the functional subnetwork of calcium homeostasis.

<p>A Impact of APP deletion. B Impact of the NexCre-cDKO. Change in abundance of more than ±10% is reflected by increasing sizes of nodes. The color code corresponds to the degree of up- (magenta) and downregulation (green). Nodes in yellow represent proteins with changes in abundance of less than ±10%. Abbreviations are the respective gene names of individual proteins as given in UniProt database and in the supplementary information <a href="http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004832#pcbi.1004832.s001" target="_blank">S1 Table</a>.</p

Overview of the experimental design.

<p>A Workflow of subcellular fractionation and immunopurification of the native hippocampal PAZ. B Experimental outline of isobaric labeling of peptides with TMT⁶ and MS analysis by nano-high-pressure liquid chromatography (nHPLC-ESI). C Example of peptide signals (m/z) for the six reporter groups. D Differences in protein abundance of hippocampal PAZ constituents between APP-mutant and control. E Pie chart diagram of proteins attributed to the PAZ. F Scheme of a PPI network illustrating proteins (exemplarily designated as A-K) as nodes and edge betweeness. The thickness of the connections represents the importance of the respective edges for information flow within the network (edge betweenness). Change in abundance of more than ±10% is reflected by increasing sizes of nodes. The color code corresponds to the degree of up- (magenta) and downregulation (green). Nodes in yellow represent proteins with changes in abundance of less than ±10%. UF, upper fractions; LF, lower fractions; IP, immunopurification, MB, magnetic bead; PM, plasma membrane; SV, synaptic vesicle, SC, signaling cascade; CS, cytoskeleton; ME, metabolic enzymes; MI, mitochondria; O, others.</p