FUS fibrillation occurs through a nucleation-based process below the critical concentration required for liquid-liquid phase separation.

FUS is an RNA-binding protein involved in familiar forms of ALS and FTLD that also assembles into fibrillar cytoplasmic aggregates in some neurodegenerative diseases without genetic causes. The self-adhesive prion-like domain in FUS generates reversible condensates via the liquid-liquid phase separation process (LLPS) whose maturation can lead to the formation of insoluble fibrillar aggregates in vitro, consistent with the appearance of cytoplasmic inclusions in ageing neurons. Using a single-molecule imaging approach, we reveal that FUS can assemble into nanofibrils at concentrations in the nanomolar range. These results suggest that the formation of fibrillar aggregates of FUS could occur in the cytoplasm at low concentrations of FUS, below the critical ones required to trigger the liquid-like condensate formation. Such nanofibrils may serve as seeds for the formation of pathological inclusions. Interestingly, the fibrillation of FUS at low concentrations is inhibited by its binding to mRNA or after the phosphorylation of its prion-like domain, in agreement with previous models.

A Single-Molecule Atomic Force Microscopy Study of PARP1 and PARP2 Recognition of Base Excision Repair DNA Intermediates.

Nuclear poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases 1 and 2 (PARP1 and PARP2) catalyze the synthesis of poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR) and use NAD+ as a substrate for the polymer synthesis. Both PARP1 and PARP2 are involved in DNA damage response pathways and function as sensors of DNA breaks, including temporary single-strand breaks formed during DNA repair. Consistently, with a role in DNA repair, PARP activation requires its binding to a damaged DNA site, which initiates PAR synthesis. Here we use atomic force microscopy to characterize at the single-molecule level the interaction of PARP1 and PARP2 with long DNA substrates containing a single damage site and representing intermediates of the short-patch base excision repair (BER) pathway. We demonstrated that PARP1 has higher affinity for early intermediates of BER than PARP2, whereas both PARPs efficiently interact with the nick and may contribute to regulation of the final ligation step. The binding of a DNA repair intermediate by PARPs involved a PARP monomer or dimer depending on the type of DNA damage. PARP dimerization influences the affinity of these proteins to DNA and affects their enzymatic activity: the dimeric form is more effective in PAR synthesis in the case of PARP2 but is less effective in the case of PARP1. PARP2 suppresses PAR synthesis catalyzed by PARP1 after single-strand breaks formation. Our study suggests that the functions of PARP1 and PARP2 overlap in BER after a site cleavage and provides evidence for a role of PARP2 in the regulation of PARP1 activity.

Relation Between Stress Granules and Cytoplasmic Protein Aggregates Linked to Neurodegenerative Diseases.

ᅟ: A hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases is the accumulation of cytoplasmic protein aggregates in neurons of affected subjects. Among recently identified elements of these aggregates are RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) involved in RNA metabolism and alternative splicing and have in common the presence of low complexity domains (LCD) that are prone to self-assemble and form aggregates. The mechanism of cytoplasmic protein aggregation remains elusive. Stress granules (SGs) that are micrometric RNA-protein assemblies located in the cytoplasm of cells exposed to environmental stress are suspected to play the role of seeds. The review sheds light on the recent experimental results that suggest a link between SGs and cytoplasmic protein aggregates but also propose other routes for the formation of these aggregates. PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To analyze the potential relationship between cytoplasmic protein aggregates in neurons of affected subjects and stress granules. RECENT FINDINGS: Liquid phase separation explains how protein and RNA could assemble in membraneless compartments, notably SGs. These results highlight the importance of RBPs with LCD in the SG assembly. Maturation of SGs and in particular the dense core is a potential source of insoluble protein aggregates. Several lines of evidence linked stress granule dynamics to pathogenic protein aggregates. (i) Proteins that accumulate in cytoplasmic aggregates are also SG components. (ii) Neurons are specifically exposed to stress events due to their high metabolism and long lifespan. (iii) Diseases linked protein mutations affect the SG dynamics. (iv) SG dense core could be a breeding ground for protein aggregates. However, we should also keep in mind that SGs are not the only RNA-protein assembly in the cytoplasm; the RNA transport granules could also play a role in the formation of insoluble protein aggregates.

Nanoscale Analysis Reveals the Maturation of Neurodegeneration-Associated Protein Aggregates: Grown in mRNA Granules then Released by Stress Granule Proteins.

TDP-43 and FUS are two mRNA-binding proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases that form cytoplasmic inclusions with prion-like properties in affected neurons. Documenting the early stages of the formation of TDP-43 or FUS protein aggregates and the role of mRNA stress granules that are considered as critical intermediates for protein aggregation is therefore of interest to understand disease propagation. Here, we developed a single molecule approach via atomic force microscopy (AFM), which provides structural information out of reach by fluorescence microscopy. In addition, the aggregation process can be probed in the test tube without separating the interacting partners, which would affect the thermodynamic equilibrium. The results demonstrate that isolated mRNA molecules serve as crucibles to promote TDP-43 and FUS multimerization. Their subsequent merging results in the formation of mRNA granules containing TDP-43 and FUS aggregates. Interestingly, TDP-43 or FUS protein aggregates can be released from mRNA granules by either YB-1 or G3BP1, two stress granule proteins that compete for the binding to mRNA with TDP-43 and FUS. Altogether, the results indicate that age-related successive assembly/disassembly of stress granules in neurons, regulated by mRNA-binding proteins such as YB-1 and G3BP1, could be a source of protein aggregation.

3,9-Diisopropyl-2,4,8,10-tetra-thia-spiro-[5.5]undeca-ne.

The mol-ecule of the title compound, C(13)H(24)S(4), has C2 symmetry and it crystallizes as a racemate. The structure displays two six-membered rings exhibiting chair conformations, with the isopropyl substituents in equatorial positions. In the crystal structure, weak inter-molecular C-H⋯S inter-actions are observed, leading to a channel-like arrangement along the c axis.