Widespread aggregation and neurodegenerative diseases are associated with supersaturated proteins

The maintenance of protein solubility is a fundamental aspect of cellular homeostasis because protein aggregation is associated with a wide variety of human diseases. Numerous proteins unrelated in sequence and structure, however, can misfold and aggregate, and widespread aggregation can occur in li...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ciryam, Prajwal, Tartaglia, Gian Gaetano, Morimoto, Richard I., Dobson, Christopher M., Vendruscolo, Michele
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2013
País:España
Institución:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repositorio:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/22556
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/22556
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2013.09.043
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Sistema nerviós -- Degeneració
Proteïnes
Descripción
Sumario:The maintenance of protein solubility is a fundamental aspect of cellular homeostasis because protein aggregation is associated with a wide variety of human diseases. Numerous proteins unrelated in sequence and structure, however, can misfold and aggregate, and widespread aggregation can occur in living systems under stress or aging. A crucial question in this context is why only certain proteins appear to aggregate readily in vivo, whereas others do not. We identify here the proteins most vulnerable to aggregation as those whose cellular concentrations are high relative to their solubilities. We find that these supersaturated proteins represent a metastable subproteome involved in pathological aggregation during stress and aging and are overrepresented in biochemical processes associated with neurodegenerative disorders. Consequently, such cellular processes become dysfunctional when the ability to keep intrinsically supersaturated proteins soluble is compromised. Thus, the simultaneous analysis of abundance and solubility can rationalize the diverse cellular pathologies linked to neurodegenerative diseases and aging.