Oligomeric species of various proteins are linked to the pathogenesis of different neurodegenerative disorders. Consequently, there is intense focus on the discovery of novel inhibitors, e.g. small molecules and antibodies, to inhibit the formation and block the toxicity of oligomers. In Parkinson disease, the protein α-synuclein (αSN) forms cytotoxic oligomers. The flavonoid epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) has previously been shown to redirect the aggregation of αSN monomers and remodel αSN amyloid fibrils into disordered oligomers. Here, we dissect EGCG's mechanism of action. EGCG inhibits the ability of preformed oligomers to permeabilize vesicles and induce cytotoxicity in a rat brain cell line. However, EGCG does not affect oligomer size distribution or secondary structure. Rather, EGCG immobilizes the C-terminal region and moderately reduces the degree of binding of oligomers to membranes. We interpret our data to mean that the oligomer acts by destabilizing the membrane rather than by direct pore formation. This suggests that reduction (but not complete abolition) of the membrane affinity of the oligomer is sufficient to prevent cytotoxicity.

Aberrant protein aggregation underlies a variety of age-related neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Little is known, however, about the molecular mechanisms that modulate the aggregation process in the cellular environment. Recently, MOAG-4/SERF has been identified as a class of evolutionarily conserved proteins that positively regulates aggregate formation. Here, by using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, we examine the mechanism of action of MOAG-4 by characterizing its interaction with α-synuclein (α-Syn). NMR chemical shift perturbations demonstrate that a positively charged segment of MOAG-4 forms a transiently populated α-helix that interacts with the negatively charged C terminus of α-Syn. This process interferes with the intramolecular interactions between the N- and C-terminal regions of α-Syn, resulting in the protein populating less compact forms and aggregating more readily. These results provide a compelling example of the complex competition between molecular and cellular factors that protect against protein aggregation and those that promote it.

Nano-domains are sub-light-diffraction-sized heterogeneous areas in the plasma membrane of cells, which are involved in cell signalling and membrane trafficking. Throughout the last thirty years, these nano-domains have been researched extensively and have been the subject of multiple theories and models: the lipid raft theory, the fence model, and the protein oligomerization theory. Strong evidence exists for all of these, and consequently they were combined into a hierarchal model. Measurements of protein and lipid diffusion coefficients and patterns have been instrumental in plasma membrane research and by extension in nano-domain research. This has led to the development of multiple methodologies that can measure diffusion and confinement parameters including single particle tracking, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, image correlation spectroscopy and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching. Here we review the performance and strengths of these methods in the context of their use in identification and characterization of plasma membrane nano-domains.

The intrinsically disordered human protein α-synuclein (αSN) can self-associate into oligomers and amyloid fibrils. Several lines of evidence suggest that oligomeric αSN is cytotoxic, making it important to devise strategies to either prevent oligomer formation and/or inhibit the ensuing toxicity. (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) has emerged as a molecular modulator of αSN self-assembly, as it reduces the flexibility of the C-terminal region of αSN in the oligomer and inhibits the oligomer's ability to perturb phospholipid membranes and induce cell death. However, a detailed structural and kinetic characterization of this interaction is still lacking. Here, we use liquid-state NMR spectroscopy to investigate how EGCG interacts with monomeric and oligomeric forms of αSN. We find that EGCG can bind to all parts of monomeric αSN but exhibits highest affinity for the N-terminal region. Monomeric αSN binds ∼54 molecules of EGCG in total during oligomerization. Furthermore, kinetic data suggests that EGCG dimerization is coupled with the αSN association reaction. In contrast, preformed oligomers only bind ∼ 7 EGCG molecules per protomer, in agreement with the more compact nature of the oligomer compared to the natively unfolded monomer. In previously conducted cell assays as little as 0.36 EGCG per αSN reduce oligomer toxicity by 50%. Our study thus demonstrates that αSN cytotoxicity can be inhibited by small molecules at concentrations at least an order of magnitude below full binding capacity. We speculate this is due to cooperative binding of protein stabilized EGCG dimers, which in turn implies synergy between protein association and EGCG dimerization.