Fibril core regions in engineered α-synuclein dimer are crucial for blocking of fibril elongation

Synucleinopathies like Parkinson's disease are neurodegenerative diseases which are associated with the deposition of fibrillar aggregates of the endogenous protein alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn). The inhibition of the elongation of alpha-syn fibrils is of great scientific interest and an option in the design of therapeutic strategies. Previously, we developed a disulfide -containing mutant of alpha-syn, called CC48, which inhibits fibril elongation by blocking of fibril ends. Surprisingly, wildtype (WT) alpha-syn molecules supported the blocked state, and a fusion of CC48 with WT alpha-syn, denoted WT-CC48, exhibited increased inhibitory potential. Here, we studied which regions of WTCC48 are responsible for the strong inhibitory effect. To this end, we investigated a set of truncated versions of WT-CC48 by kinetic elongation assays, density gradient centrifugation, and atomic force microscopy. We show that in both the WT and the CC48 part of the fusion construct the hairpin region (residue 32-60) and NAC region (61-95), but not N- and C -terminal regions, are required for strong inhibition of fibril elongation. The required regions correspond to the segments forming the 13 - sheet core of alpha-syn fibrils. As alpha-syn fibrils typically consist of two protofilaments, the dimeric construct WT-CC48 provides the critical regions sufficient to cover the full 13- sheetcore interface exposed at the fibril end, which can explain its high inhibitory efficiency. We suggest a mechanistic model of CC48-mediated inhibition of fibril elongation in which CC48 and WT alpha-syn cooperatively form an oligomer-like cap at the amyloid fibril end.