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How Glycosaminoglycans Promote Fibrillation of Salmon Calcitonin

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DOI

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) bind all known amyloid plaques and help store protein hormones in (acidic) granular vesicles, but the molecular mechanisms underlying these important effects are unclear. Here we investigate GAGs interactions with the peptide hormone salmon calcitonin (sCT). GAGs induce fast sCT fibrillation at acidic pH and only bind monomeric sCT at acidic pH, inducing sCT helicity. Increasing GAG sulfation expands the pH range for binding. Heparin, the most highly sulfated GAG, binds sCT in the pH interval 3-7. SAXS indicates that sCT monomers densely decorate and pack single heparin chains, possibly via hydrophobic patches on helical sCT. sCT fibrillates without GAGs, but heparin binding accelerates the process by decreasing the otherwise long fibrillation lag times at low pH and accelerates fibril growth rates at neutral pH. sCT:heparin complexes form β-sheet rich heparin-covered fibrils. Solid state NMR reveals that heparin does not alter the sCT fibrillary core around Lys11 but makes changes to Val8 on the exterior side of the β-strand, possibly through contacts to Lys18. Thus GAGs significantly modulate sCT fibrillation in a pH-dependent manner by interacting both with monomeric and aggregated sCT.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Biological Chemistry
Volume291
Issue32
Pages (from-to)16849-16862
Number of pages31
ISSN0021-9258
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Aug 2016

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