Structural Fuzziness of the RNA-Organizing Protein SERF Determines a Toxic Gain-of-interaction

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • N. Helge Meyer - , University of Oldenburg (Author)
  • Hanna Dellago - , University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (Author)
  • Carmen Tam-Amersdorfer - , Medical University of Graz (Author)
  • David A. Merle - , Medical University of Graz (Author)
  • Rosanna Parlato - , Ulm University, Heidelberg University  (Author)
  • Bernd Gesslbauer - , University of Graz (Author)
  • Johannes Almer - , University of Graz (Author)
  • Martha Gschwandtner - , University of Graz (Author)
  • A. Leon - , University of Graz (Author)
  • Titus M. Franzmann - , Chair of Cellular Biochemistry (Author)
  • Johannes Grillari - , University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology, Austrian Cluster for Tissue Regeneration (Author)
  • Andreas J. Kungl - , University of Graz (Author)
  • Klaus Zangger - , University of Graz (Author)
  • S. Fabio Falsone - , University of Graz, Steiermärkische Krankenanstaltengesellschaft (Author)

Abstract

The mechanisms by which protein complexes convert from functional to pathogenic are the subject of intensive research. Here, we report how functionally unfavorable protein interactions can be induced by structural fuzziness, i.e., by persisting conformational disorder in protein complexes. We show that extreme disorder in the bound state transforms the intrinsically disordered protein SERF1a from an RNA-organizing factor into a pathogenic enhancer of alpha-synuclein (aSyn) amyloid toxicity. We demonstrate that SERF1a promotes the incorporation of RNA into nucleoli and liquid-like artificial RNA-organelles by retaining an unusually high degree of conformational disorder in the RNA-bound state. However, this type of structural fuzziness also determines an undifferentiated interaction with aSyn. RNA and aSyn both bind to one identical, positively charged site of SERF1a by an analogous electrostatic binding mode, with similar binding affinities, and without any observable disorder-to-order transition. The absence of primary or secondary structure discriminants results in SERF1a being unable to select between nucleic acid and amyloidogenic protein, leading the pro-amyloid aSyn:SERF1a interaction to prevail in the cytosol under conditions of cellular stress. We suggest that fuzzy disorder in SERF1a complexes accounts for an adverse gain-of-interaction which favors toxic binding to aSyn at the expense of nontoxic RNA binding, thereby leading to a functionally distorted and pathogenic process. Thus, structural fuzziness constitutes a direct link between extreme conformational flexibility, amyloid aggregation, and the malfunctioning of RNA-associated cellular processes, three signatures of neurodegenerative proteinopathies.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)930-951
Number of pages22
JournalJournal of Molecular Biology
Volume432
Issue number4
Publication statusPublished - 14 Feb 2020
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 31794729
ORCID /0000-0002-4281-7209/work/196680210

Keywords

Keywords

  • Alpha synuclein, Intrinsically disordered proteins, MOAG-4/SERF, RNA-binding, Structural fuzziness