I was wondering if phosphorylation was necessary for amyloid fibre formation ? I have read a lot about eukaryotic phosphorylation in the case of alzheimers etc . I wondered if it was generally accepted that many amyloids prokaryotic and eukayotic are or can be phosphorylated ?
Hi Gerry,
Most proteins that form amyloid are actually not phosphorylated, e.g. lysozyme, Abeta, prion protein, etc.
Of course, some well-known examples are phosphorylated when in the amyloid state, most notably the microtubule-associated protein tau which is even hyperphosphorylated in its paired helical filament (PHF) state in AD brains. Since recombinantly produced tau can form PHF-like structures in vitro, the phosphorylation itself is not obligatory for the amyloid formation here either.
I hope that clarifies it a bit.
Yes thanks Willie
I just thought maybe some phosphorylation of amyloids was maybe under-reported because it is not always searched for .
Hi Gerry,
Yes, the amyloid proteins can be phosphorylated not for the aggregations itself., for eg, ABeta protein are phosphorylated to trigger aggregation and increase toxicity as observed with AD patients.
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