C99 is the transmembrane carboxyl-terminal domain of the amyloid precursor protein that is cleaved by γ-secretase to release the amyloid-β polypeptides, which are associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Nuclear magnetic resonance and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy show that the extracellular amino terminus of C99 includes a surface-embedded “N-helix” followed by a short “N-loop” connecting to the transmembrane domain (TMD). The TMD is a flexibly curved α helix, making it well suited for processive cleavage by γ-secretase. Titration of C99 reveals a binding site for cholesterol, providing mechanistic insight into how cholesterol promotes amyloidogenesis. Membrane-buried GXXXG motifs (G, Gly; X, any amino acid), which have an established role in oligomerization, were also shown to play a key role in cholesterol binding. The structure and cholesterol binding properties of C99 may aid in the design of Alzheimer’s therapeutics.

Mixtures of long-chain and short-chain phosphatidylcholine (PC) were characterized by multinuclear (13C, 31P, 2H) solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. This work complements and extends previous characterization of such mixtures by focusing on concentrated mixtures at temperatures above the gel to liquid crystalline phase transition temperature (Tm) of the long-chain PC component. Above Tm it was observed that highly oriented, bilayer-like assemblies could be formed of mixtures of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and dihexanoylphosphatidylcholine (DHPC) in molar ratios ranging from approximately 1:3.5 to 1:2 (DHPC:DMPC) over a considerable range of lipid concentrations (at least 3-40% w/v total lipid, for a 1:2.5 sample). Orientation was observed to occur only in an L alpha-like phase. The NMR data can be accounted for by a general model of the DHPC-DMPC aggregates in which DHPC can be found in two distinct populations (one highly ordered, one not). The averaged conformations of the glycerol backbone/headgroup regions of the long- and short-chain PC composing the assemblies were judged by solid-state 13C NMR to be similar to each other. The information gleaned about these mixtures and the quality of the oriented NMR spectra obtained suggest that DHPC-DMPC mixtures may prove to be useful as model membrane media in solid-state NMR studies of biomembranes.

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The amyloid precursor protein (APP) is subject to alternative pathways of proteolytic processing, leading either to production of the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides or to non-amyloidogenic fragments. Here, we report the first structural study of C99, the 99-residue transmembrane C-terminal domain of APP liberated by β-secretase cleavage. We also show that cholesterol, an agent that promotes the amyloidogenic pathway, specifically binds to this protein. C99 was purified into model membranes where it was observed to homodimerize. NMR data show that the transmembrane domain of C99 is an α-helix that is flanked on both sides by mostly disordered extramembrane domains, with two exceptions. First, there is a short extracellular surface-associated helix located just after the site of α-secretase cleavage that helps to organize the connecting loop to the transmembrane domain, which is known to be essential for Aβ production. Second, there is a surface-associated helix located at the cytosolic C-terminus, adjacent to the YENPTY motif that plays critical roles in APP trafficking and protein-protein interactions. Cholesterol was seen to participate in saturable interactions with C99 that are centered at the critical loop connecting the extracellular helix to the transmembrane domain. Binding of cholesterol to C99 and, most likely, to APP may be critical for the trafficking of these proteins to cholesterol-rich membrane domains, which leads to cleavage by β-and γ-secretase and resulting amyloid-β production. It is proposed that APP may serve as a cellular cholesterol sensor that is linked to mechanisms for suppressing cellular cholesterol uptake.The human amyloid precursor protein (APP) 1 is a single-span membrane protein that is alternatively processed by either α-or β-secretase to release its large ectodomain from the cell surface, a process referred to as "shedding". β-Secretase (β-site APP cleaving enzyme 1, BACE1) cleaves APP after Met671, leading to production of the C-terminal 99-residue domain of APP, C99, a single-span membrane protein. Subsequent cleavage of C99 at membranedisposed sites by γ-secretase leads to release of both the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides and the water-

KCNE1 is a single span membrane protein that modulates the voltage-gated potassium channel KCNQ1 (K V 7.1) by slowing activation and enhancing channel conductance to generate the slow delayed rectifier current (I Ks ) that is critical for the repolarization phase of the cardiac action potential. Perturbation of channel function by inherited mutations in KCNE1 or KCNQ1 results in increased susceptibility to cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death with or without accompanying deafness. Here, we present the three-dimensional structure of KCNE1. The transmembrane domain (TMD) of KCNE1 is a curved α-helix and is flanked by intra-and extracellular domains comprised of α-helices joined by flexible linkers. Experimentally-restrained docking of the KCNE1 TMD to a closed state model of KCNQ1 suggests that KCNE1 slows channel activation by sitting on and restricting the movement of the S4-S5 linker that connects the voltage sensor to the pore domain. We postulate that this is an adhesive interaction that must be disrupted before the channel can be opened in response to membrane depolarization. Docking to open KCNQ1 indicates that the extracellular end of the KCNE1 TMD forms an interface with an intersubunit cleft in the channel that is associated with most known gain-of-function disease mutations. Binding of KCNE1 to this "gain-of-function cleft" may explain how it increases conductance and stabilizes the open state. These working models for the KCNE1/KCNQ1 complexes may be used to formulate testable hypotheses for the molecular bases of disease phenotypes associated with the dozens of known inherited mutations in KCNE1 and KCNQ1.KCNE1 (previously called minK) belongs to the KCNE family of single-span membrane proteins that modulate the activity of several voltage-gated K + channels, including KCNQ1 (K V 7.1). In cardiac myocytes KCNE1 forms obligate complexes with KCNQ1 to generate the