Alzheimer's disease is the most fatal neurodegenerative disorder wherein the process of amyloid-beta (Abeta) amyloidogenesis appears causative. Here, we present the 3D structure of the fibrils comprising Abeta(1-42), which was obtained by using hydrogen-bonding constraints from quenched hydrogen/deuterium-exchange NMR, side-chain packing constraints from pairwise mutagenesis studies, and parallel, in-register beta-sheet arrangement from previous solid-state NMR studies. Although residues 1-17 are disordered, residues 18-42 form a beta-strand-turn-beta-strand motif that contains two intermolecular, parallel, in-register beta-sheets that are formed by residues 18-26 (beta1) and 31-42 (beta2). At least two molecules of Abeta(1-42) are required to achieve the repeating structure of a protofilament. Intermolecular side-chain contacts are formed between the odd-numbered residues of strand beta1 of the nth molecule and the even-numbered residues of strand beta2 of the (n - 1)th molecule. This interaction pattern leads to partially unpaired beta-strands at the fibrillar ends, which explains the sequence selectivity, the cooperativity, and the apparent unidirectionality of Abeta fibril growth. It also provides a structural basis for fibrillization inhibitors.

The NMR structures of the recombinant human prion protein, hPrP(23-230), and two C-terminal fragments, hPrP(90 -230) and hPrP(121-230), include a globular domain extending from residues 125-228, for which a detailed structure was obtained, and an N-terminal flexibly disordered ''tail.'' The globular domain contains three ␣-helices comprising the residues 144 -154, 173-194, and 200 -228 and a short anti-parallel ␤-sheet comprising the residues 128 -131 and 161-164. Within the globular domain, three polypeptide segments show increased structural disorder: i.e., a loop of residues 167-171, the residues 187-194 at the end of helix 2, and the residues 219 -228 in the C-terminal part of helix 3. The local conformational state of the polypeptide segments 187-193 in helix 2 and 219 -226 in helix 3 is measurably influenced by the length of the N-terminal tail, with the helical states being most highly populated in hPrP(23-230). When compared with the previously reported structures of the murine and Syrian hamster prion proteins, the length of helix 3 coincides more closely with that in the Syrian hamster protein whereas the disordered loop 167-171 is shared with murine PrP. These species variations of local structure are in a surface area of the cellular form of PrP that has previously been implicated in intermolecular interactions related both to the species barrier for infectious transmission of prion disease and to immune reactions. P rion proteins (PrP) are associated with transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), which are invariably fatal diseases characterized by loss of motor control, dementia, and paralysis wasting (1, 2). Human TSEs include Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, fatal familial insomnia, the Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome, and kuru, and there is bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle and scrapie in sheep. The ''proteinonly'' hypothesis (3, 4) proposes that TSEs are caused by the conversion of a ubiquitous ''cellular form'' of PrP (PrP C ) into an aggregated ''scrapie form'' (PrP Sc ). According to this model, the prion protein (PrP) would at the same time be target and infectious agent in TSEs, which could explain that this class of diseases can be traced to infectious, inherited, and spontaneous origins (2, 5). PrP Sc is characterized by a high ␤-sheet content, insolubility in detergents, and resistance to proteolysis in its aggregated form (6-8) whereas PrP C is a soluble protein with a high content of ␣-helices (8, 9) and high susceptibility to proteolytic digestion. No chemical modifications have as yet been identified by which the two PrP forms would differ (10).Considering that the protein-only hypothesis suggests a change of protein conformation as a possible cause of the onset of TSEs, the three-dimensional prion protein structures have attracted keen interest. So far, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) solution studies have been described for monomeric, cellular forms of PrP of the two most widely used laboratory animals in prion research, the mouse (m) and the Syrian hamster (sh)...

The aggregation of proteins into amyloid fibrils is associated with several neurodegenerative diseases. In Parkinson's disease it is believed that the aggregation of ␣-synuclein (␣-syn) from monomers by intermediates into amyloid fibrils is the toxic diseasecausative mechanism. Here, we studied the structure of ␣-syn in its amyloid state by using various biophysical approaches. Quenched hydrogen/deuterium exchange NMR spectroscopy identified five ␤-strands within the fibril core comprising residues 35-96 and solid-state NMR data from amyloid fibrils comprising the fibril core residues 30 -110 confirmed the presence of ␤-sheet secondary structure. The data suggest that ␤1-strand interacts with ␤2, ␤2 with ␤3, ␤3 with ␤4, and ␤4 with ␤5. High-resolution cryoelectron microscopy revealed the protofilament boundaries of Ϸ2 ؋ 3.5 nm. Based on the combination of these data and published structural studies, a fold of ␣-syn in the fibrils is proposed and discussed.amyloid ͉ NMR ͉ Parkinson's disease ͉ structure ͉ aggregation

Prions are believed to be infectious self-propagating polymers of otherwise soluble host-encoded proteins 1,2 . This concept is now strongly supported by the recent findings that amyloid fibrils of recombinant prion proteins from yeast 3-5 , Podospora anserina 6 , and mammals 7 can induce prion phenotypes in the corresponding hosts. However, the structural basis of prion infectivity remains largely elusive because acquisition of atomic resolution structural properties of amyloid fibrils represents a largely unsolved technical challenge. HET-s, the prion protein of P. anserina, contains a C-terminal prion domain comprising residues 218-289. Amyloid fibrils of are necessary and sufficient for the induction and propagation of prion infectivity 6 . Here, we have used fluorescence studies, quenched hydrogen exchange NMR and solid state NMR to determine the sequence specific positions of secondary structure elements of amyloid fibrils of . This revealed four β-strands constituted by two pseudo repeat sequences, each forming a β-strandturn-β-strand motif. We show that this conformation is the functional and infectious entity of the HET-s prion by using a structure-based mutagenesis approach. These results correlate for the first time distinct structural elements with prion infectivity.The prion form of the protein HET-s is involved in a programmed cell death phenomenon termed heterokaryon incompatibility 8,9 . This reaction occurs in filamentous fungi when cells of incompatible genotype fuse and form a mixed cell. In P. anserina, two incompatible genotypes, called het-s and het-S, encode for the proteins HET-s and HET-S. They are both 289 amino acids long and differ in only 13 residues 10 . However, only HET-s can form a prion 11 : P. anserina cells expressing the HET-s protein exist either in a prion state called [Hets] Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to R.R. (e-mail: riek@salk.edu).. $ these authors contributed equally to this work.Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on Nature's website (http://www.nature.com). (Fig. 1a) contained one assigned cross-peak for each backbone amide of with the exception of 289, enabling a residuespecific determination of the hydrogen exchange rates. Upon exchange in D 2 O buffer for 6 weeks the intensity of about 45% of the resonances was significantly reduced or absent from the spectrum (Fig. 1b). This suggested that the corresponding amides have undergone exchange with solvent deuterons, which are not visible in this experiment. NIH Public AccessThe hydrogen exchange was followed over a total period of 3 months. All residues displayed a mono-exponential decay (Fig. S1) indicating that the structure of the fibrils was well defined and homogeneous. The summarized hydrogen exchange data (Fig. 1e) show that due to exchange rates faster than 5·h -1 , the 8 N-terminal residues, the 5 C-terminal residues and residues 247-261 are only weakly or not protected and may therefore be conformationally disordered. Four segments were observed that d...

Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) establishes a lifelong latent infection and causes several malignancies in humans. Murine herpesvirus 68 (MHV-68) is a related γ2-herpesvirus frequently used as a model to study the biology of γ-herpesviruses in vivo. The KSHV latency-associated nuclear antigen (kLANA) and the MHV68 mLANA (orf73) protein are required for latent viral replication and persistence. Latent episomal KSHV genomes and kLANA form nuclear microdomains, termed ‘LANA speckles’, which also contain cellular chromatin proteins, including BRD2 and BRD4, members of the BRD/BET family of chromatin modulators. We solved the X-ray crystal structure of the C-terminal DNA binding domains (CTD) of kLANA and MHV-68 mLANA. While these structures share the overall fold with the EBNA1 protein of Epstein-Barr virus, they differ substantially in their surface characteristics. Opposite to the DNA binding site, both kLANA and mLANA CTD contain a characteristic lysine-rich positively charged surface patch, which appears to be a unique feature of γ2-herpesviral LANA proteins. Importantly, kLANA and mLANA CTD dimers undergo higher order oligomerization. Using NMR spectroscopy we identified a specific binding site for the ET domains of BRD2/4 on kLANA. Functional studies employing multiple kLANA mutants indicate that the oligomerization of native kLANA CTD dimers, the characteristic basic patch and the ET binding site on the kLANA surface are required for the formation of kLANA ‘nuclear speckles’ and latent replication. Similarly, the basic patch on mLANA contributes to the establishment of MHV-68 latency in spleen cells in vivo. In summary, our data provide a structural basis for the formation of higher order LANA oligomers, which is required for nuclear speckle formation, latent replication and viral persistence.