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Copyright © 2003, The National Academy of Sciences Biochemistry γ-Secretase is a membrane protein complex comprised of presenilin, nicastrin, aph-1, and pen-2 Center for Neurologic Diseases, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115 *To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: dselkoe/at/rics.bwh.harvard.edu or mwolfe/at/rics.bwh.harvard.edu. Edited by Thomas C. Südhof, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, and approved March 24, 2003 Received December 5, 2002. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC.Abstract γ-Secretase catalyzes the intramembrane proteolysis of Notch, β-amyloid precursor protein, and other substrates as part of a new signaling paradigm and as a key step in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. This unusual protease has eluded identification, though evidence suggests that the presenilin heterodimer comprises the catalytic site and that a highly glycosylated form of nicastrin associates with it. The formation of presenilin heterodimers from the holoprotein is tightly gated by unknown limiting cellular factors. Here we show that Aph-1 and Pen-2, two recently identified membrane proteins genetically linked to γ-secretase, associate directly with presenilin and nicastrin in the active protease complex. Coexpression of all four proteins leads to marked increases in presenilin heterodimers, full glycosylation of nicastrin, and enhanced γ-secretase activity. These findings suggest that the four membrane proteins comprise the limiting components of γ-secretase and coassemble to form the active enzyme in mammalian cells. Regulated intramembrane proteolysis is an evolutionarily conserved biochemical mechanism that has been recognized only recently (1). Although hydrolysis of a peptide bond within the hydrophobic environment of a lipid bilayer seems counter-intuitive, several enzymes nevertheless appear to carry out this process. One such enzyme, termed γ-secretase, is a founding member of a new class of intramembrane-cleaving proteases (2). γ-Secretase was first recognized because of its role in the production of the amyloid-β protein (Aβ), a 40- to 42-residue peptide that is pathogenic in Alzheimer's disease (3). In addition, γ-secretase catalyzes the proteolytic release of the intracellular domains of Notch, β-amyloid precursor protein, and numerous other type I transmembrane receptors, indicating that it normally serves as a mediator of diverse signaling pathways. Despite substantial progress in understanding its normal and abnormal biology, the complete identity of γ-secretase has remained elusive. However, the burden of evidence has suggested that presenilin (PS) is the active site of the protease (2). PS is cleaved into N-terminal and C-terminal fragments (NTF and CTF) that remain associated, and these heterodimers appear to be the biologically active form of the protein (4). Indeed, compounds designed as transition-state analogue inhibitors of γ-secretase bind specifically to PS heterodimers (5, 6). Moreover, mutation of two conserved intramembrane aspartates (7) or genetic deletion of PS (8) interferes with γ-secretase activity. These data, plus the recognition that PS contains an aspartic protease motif (9), strongly implicate PS as the active site of γ-secretase. However, PS does not act alone, as the levels of PS heterodimers are tightly regulated by other limiting factors (10), and overexpression of PS does not increase γ-secretase activity and produce more product. Nicastrin (NCT), discovered via its association with PS (11), may be one of the hypothesized limiting factors. Genetic ablation of NCT in Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila results in a phenotype similar to the deletion of PS (11–15), and recent evidence has shown that NCT maturation depends on PS (16–19) and is directly associated with γ-secretase (19, 20). However, overexpression of both PS and NCT is not sufficient to generate more γ-secretase activity (19), suggesting that additional limiting factors exist. Genetic screens designed to modify a PS-deficient phenotype in C. elegans have recently yielded two novel genes, APH-1 (21) and PEN-2 (22). Genetic analyses demonstrated that these proteins are essential for PS endoproteolysis and γ-secretase function (22), but their biochemical role remained undefined. Here, we characterize the human forms of these two proteins and demonstrate that they are physical members of the γ-secretase complex. We further show that the combination of the four human proteins (PS1, NCT, Aph-1, and Pen-2) is sufficient to circumvent the tight regulation of PS heterodimer levels and thus augment γ-secretase activity in mammalian cells. Methods Immunoprecipitation and Western Blotting. CHAPSO [3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-2-hydroxy-1-propanesulfonate] lysates were prepared as described (20). Coimmunoprecipitations (co-IPs) and III-31C precipitations were performed in 1% CHAPSO as described (20). For blue-native electrophoresis, samples were analyzed as described (23). Detection on Western blots used R302 (NCT, 1:4,000), guinea pig anti-NCT (1:2,000, Chemicon), Ab14 (PS1 NTF, 1:2,000), goat α-PS1 N-19 (PS1 NTF, 1:200, Santa Cruz Biotechnology), 13A11 (PS1 CTF, 5 μg/ml), M2 Flag (1:1,000, Sigma) or 3F10 (1:2,000, Roche). Glycerol Gradients and in Vitro Activity Assay. Glycerol gradients contained 0.2% digitonin in Hepes buffer (50 mM Hepes/150 mM NaCl/5 mM MgCl2/5 mM CaCl2) and 18–28% glycerol in 1% increments. For co-IP from the gradient fractions, samples were adjusted to 0.5% digitonin and 6% glycerol. C100Flag activity assays were as described (20). Stable Cell Lines. PS70 Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, which stably express wild-type human PS1, have been described (24) and are the parental cell line for all stable transfectants prepared in this study. The A-5 clone additionally expresses Aph-1α2-HA, whereas the P-2 and P-22 clones express Flag-Pen2. The γ-23 and γ-30 cell lines express Flag-Pen2 in the A-5 background. Results Two homologues of APH-1 exist in the human genome, here termed Aph-1α and Aph-1β. Both genes encode proteins predicted to contain seven transmembrane domains (Fig. 1a
Aph-1 Is Physically Associated with the Active γ-Secretase Complex. To determine whether Aph-1α and Pen-2 are associated with γ-secretase, we evaluated each protein individually. We first focused on the transient expression in COS7 cells of Aph-1α2. We placed a hemagglutinin (HA) tag on the C terminus of Aph-1α2 for ease of detection. In whole lysates, we noted bands in the ≈23- and ≈14-kDa regions of the gel (Fig. 1b
Next, we solubilized Aph1-transfected COS7 membrane preparations in 1% CHAPSO/Hepes buffer and performed precipitations with III-31C affinity resin, because this inhibitor matrix specifically binds active PS/γ-secretase complexes (20). As a control, we used an inactive compound of closely similar structure but lacking the inhibitory moiety. NCT, PS1 NTF, and PS1 CTF were specifically precipitated by the 31C resin (Fig. 1c To establish whether the full-length Aph-1α2 molecule or its ≈14-kDa fragment was associated with γ-secretase activity, the COS7 lysates were subjected to glycerol velocity gradient fractionation. When we probed the resultant 12 gradient fractions for the presence of NCT, PS1 NTF, and PS1 CTF, we found that these three proteins codistributed in the gradient (Fig. 1d Pen-2 Is Physically Associated with the Active γ-Secretase Complex. We next performed a similar analysis with Pen-2 engineered with an N-terminal Flag tag. After transient transfection into COS7 cells, we prepared membrane lysates in 1% CHAPSO. We performed activity-dependent precipitations and found that Pen-2 bound specifically to the active III-31C resin but not the control III-112 resin (Fig. 2a
To directly test whether precipitation of Pen-2 can pull down active γ-secretase, we coimmunoprecipitated CHAPSO lysates of the COS transfectants with M2 Flag antibody. We incubated the beads with C100Flag substrate and probed for the generation of γ-secretase products (Fig. 2b PS1, NCT, Aph-1, and Pen-2 Serve as Limiting Components of the γ-Secretase Complex. To determine whether these four proteins were themselves sufficient to generate additional γ-secretase complexes (i.e., to overcome the tight regulation of PS/γ-secretase levels), we transiently overexpressed each possible combination of three of the proteins in CHO cells and compared the effects to that of overexpressing all four proteins together. Because PS1 heterodimers (26) and the ≈150-kDa fully glycosylated NCT (16–19, 25) are specifically associated with γ-secretase activity while their immature forms (holoPS1 and ≈110-kDa NCT) are not, we used the levels of the mature forms as surrogates for the amount of active γ-secretase present in the cell. When Pen-2 was not present in the transfected mixture, we observed very little conversion of exogenous PS holoprotein into heterodimers and minimal maturation of exogenous NCT into its fully glycosylated form (Fig. 3a When only exogenous NCT was not present in the mixture, we obtained a mild increase in the amount of PS1 NTF and CTF (Fig. 3a Stable Coexpression of the Four Components Reconstitutes γ-Secretase Activity. Because PS heterodimers are believed to constitute the active site of the protease (5, 6), the above results suggest that the stepwise addition of each of the four components results in increased levels of γ-secretase only when all four proteins are overexpressed. To confirm this conclusion, we raised stable cell lines. As CHO cells already possess excess endogenous NCT (19), we sought to stably express the other three putative components of γ-secretase in this line. Stable expression of PS1 results in the nearly complete replacement of endogenous hamster PS heterodimers with exogenous human PS1 heterodimers, as previously described for this PS70 cell line (24) (Fig. 3b To directly test whether the increases in the mature forms of PS and NCT corresponded to increases in γ-secretase activity, we prepared membranes from each of the above stable cell lines and solubilized them in CHAPSO. We performed C100Flag in vitro activity assays on each membrane lysate, normalized for equal cell number (Fig. 3c If these four proteins are indeed sufficient to constitute γ-secretase, then the size of the complex should approximate the sum of the individual molecular weights. We therefore used blue native (BN)-PAGE (23) of the γ-30 cell line to evaluate the size of the complex. We solubilized the cells in digitonin, because this detergent not only preserves the γ-secretase complex but is compatible with γ-secretase activity (20). On BN-PAGE gels, all four proteins comigrated in a band of ≈250 kDa (Fig. 4a
Because all four proteins comigrated as a complex, we evaluated their interactions directly by using co-IP. We prepared lysates from the A-5, P-22 and γ-30 cell lines in 1% CHAPSO/Hepes. 3F10, which recognizes the HA tag of Aph-1α2, was able to coprecipitate NCT, PS NTF, and PS CTF in the A-5 cell line (Fig. 4b Partial Purification Yields All Four Components in a Proteolytically Active Complex. Because the four proteins coimmunoprecipitated robustly in the γ-30 stable line (Fig. 4b Discussion Genetic complementation and RNAi analyses in invertebrates identified Aph-1 and Pen-2 as essential for the activity and accumulation of PS/γ-secretase complexes (21, 22). However, several possibilities remained for the actual roles of these two proteins, including as transient assembly factors, trafficking regulators, or actual members of the mature protease complex. Our biochemical approach clarifies these possibilities and provides evidence that the four proteins stably associate with each other into a proteolytically active complex. In this regard, recent progress in our multistep affinity purification of γ-secretase confirms that the four proteins indeed co-purify as a complex (P. Fraering, M.J.L., W.Y., B.L.O., D.J.S., and M.W., unpublished data). We also show that these four components cooperatively regulate each other's maturation and that they comprise the long-sought “limiting cofactors” of PS. In other words, coexpression of all four proteins unleashes γ-secretase and leads to more product formation. Moreover, our data suggest that the component lowest in abundance in a cell acts as the limiting factor that gates PS endoproteolysis, NCT maturation, and γ-secretase activity. Further work will determine which protein is limiting at the endogenous level in different cell types. Taken together with the genetic observations (21, 22), our new findings strongly support a model in which PS is the catalytic component of γ-secretase, a novel intramembrane aspartyl protease activated by autoproteolysis (7). NCT, Aph-1 and Pen-2 (29) apparently interact with PS to permit its autoproteolysis, with the active site of the mature protease located at the interface between the two PS subunits (see Fig. 1a Our data clearly show that overexpression of all four components substantially increases γ-secretase-mediated cleavage of C100 in vitro. We also attempted to quantify endogenous Aβ production among our various stably transfected cell lines (Fig. 3 Saturation mutagenesis in C. elegans identified no additional candidate genes encoding potential γ-secretase complex members (22). Moreover, the sum of the apparent molecular masses of PS (≈50 kDa), mature NCT (≈150 kDa), Aph-1 (≈23 kDa), and Pen-2 (≈10 kDa) is consistent with the observed size of the γ-secretase complex in digitonin glycerol gradients in HEK293 cells (200–250 kDa) (27) and in our blue native-PAGE analysis (Fig. 4a Supporting Information
Acknowledgments We thank D. Curtis for helpful discussions, V. Khurana for technical assistance, J. Gao for genome database analysis, W. Esler for III-31C resin, S. Gandy for Ab14, D. Miller and P. Savam for R302, and P. Seubert and D. Schenk for 13A11. M.J.L. is the recipient of grants from the Alzheimer's Association and the National Institutes of Health. M.S.W. is supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer's Association, and D.J.S. is supported by the National Institutes of Health and a Pioneer Award from the Alzheimer's Association. Notes This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office. Abbreviations: Aβ, amyloid-β protein; PS, presenilin; NTF, N-terminal fragment; CTF, C-terminal fragment; co-IP, coimmunoprecipitation; NCT, nicastrin; CHO, Chinese hamster ovary; HA, hemagglutinin; CHAPSO, 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-2-hydroxy-1-propanesulfonate. References 1. Brown, M. S., Ye, J., Rawson, R. B. & Goldstein, J. L. (2000. ) Cell 100, 391–398. [PubMed] 2. Wolfe, M. S. & Selkoe, D. J. (2002. ) Science 296, 2156–2157. [PubMed] 3. Selkoe, D. J. (2001. ) Physiol. Rev. 81, 741–766. [PubMed] 4. Thinakaran, G., Borchelt, D. R., Lee, M. K., Slunt, H. H., Spitzer, L., Kim, G., Ratovitsky, T., Davenport, F., Nordstedt, C., Seeger, M., et al. (1996. ) Neuron 17, 181–190. [PubMed] 5. Li, Y. M., Xu, M., Lai, M. T., Huang, Q., Castro, J. L., DiMuzio-Mower, J., Harrison, T., Lellis, C., Nadin, A., Neduvelil, J. G., et al. (2000. ) Nature 405, 689–694. [PubMed] 6. Esler, W. P., Kimberly, W. T., Ostaszewski, B. L., Diehl, T. S., Moore, C. L., Tsai, J. Y., Rahmati, T., Xia, W., Selkoe, D. J. & Wolfe, M. S. (2000. ) Nat. Cell Biol. 2, 428–434. [PubMed] 7. Wolfe, M. S., Xia, W., Ostaszewski, B. L., Diehl, T. S., Kimberly, W. T. & Selkoe, D. J. (1999. ) Nature 398, 513–517. [PubMed] 8. De Strooper, B., Saftig, P., Craessaerts, K., Vanderstichele, H., Gundula, G., Annaert, W., Von Figura, K. & Van Leuven, F. (1998. ) Nature 391, 387–390. [PubMed] 9. Steiner, H., Kostka, M., Romig, H., Basset, G., Pesold, B., Hardy, J., Capell, A., Meyn, L., Grim, M. L., Baumeister, R., et al. (2000. ) Nat. Cell Biol. 2, 848–851. [PubMed] 10. Thinakaran, G., Harris, C. L., Ratovitski, T., Davenport, F., Slunt, H. H., Price, D. L., Borchelt, D. R. & Sisodia, S. S. (1997. ) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 28415–28422. [PubMed] 11. Yu, G., Nishimura, M., Arawaka, S., Levitan, D., Zhang, L., Tandon, A., Song, Y. Q., Rogaeva, E., Chen, F., Kawarai, T., et al. (2000. ) Nature 407, 48–54. [PubMed] 12. Levitan, D., Yu, G., St George Hyslop, P. & Goutte, C. (2001. ) Dev. Biol. 240, 654–661. [PubMed] 13. Chung, H. M. & Struhl, G. (2001. ) Nat. Cell Biol. 3, 1129–1132. [PubMed] 14. Lopez-Schier, H. & St. Johnston, D. (2002. ) Dev. Cell 2, 79–89. [PubMed] 15. Hu, Y., Ye, Y. & Fortini, M. E. (2002. ) Dev. Cell 2, 69–78. [PubMed] 16. Edbauer, D., Winkler, E., Haass, C. & Steiner, H. (2002. ) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99, 8666–8671. [PubMed] 17. Leem, J. Y., Vijayan, S., Han, P., Cai, D., Machura, M., Lopes, K. O., Veselits, M. L., Xu, H. & Thinakaran, G. (2002. ) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 19236–19240. [PubMed] 18. Tomita, T., Katayama, R., Takikawa, R. & Iwatsubo, T. (2002. ) FEBS Lett. 520, 117–121. [PubMed] 19. Kimberly, W. T., LaVoie, M. J., Ostaszewski, B. L., Ye, W., Wolfe, M. S. & Selkoe, D. J. (2002. ) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 35113–35117. [PubMed] 20. Esler, W. P., Kimberly, W. T., Ostaszewski, B. L., Ye, W., Diehl, T. S., Selkoe, D. J. & Wolfe, M. S. (2002. ) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99, 2720–2725. [PubMed] 21. Goutte, C., Tsunozaki, M., Hale, V. A. & Priess, J. R. (2002. ) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99, 775–779. [PubMed] 22. Francis, R., McGrath, G., Zhang, J., Ruddy, D. A., Sym, M., Apfeld, J., Nicoll, M., Maxwell, M., Hai, B., Ellis, M. C., et al. (2002. ) Dev. Cell 3, 85–97. [PubMed] 23. Schagger, H. & von Jagow, G. (1991. ) Anal. Biochem. 199, 223–231. [PubMed] 24. Xia, W., Zhang, J., Kholodenko, D., Citron, M, Podlisny, M. B., Teplow, D. B., Haass, C., Seubert, P., Koo, E. H. & Selkoe, D. J. (1997. ) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 7977–7982. [PubMed] 25. Yang, D. S., Tandon, A., Chen, F., Yu, G., Yu, H., Arawaka, S., Hasegawa, H., Duthie, M., Schmidt, S. D., Ramabhadran, T. V., et al. (2002. ) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 28135–28142. [PubMed] 26. Li, Y.-M., Lai, M.-T., Xu, M., Huang, Q., DiMuzio-Mower, J., Sardana, M. K., Shi, X.-P., Yin, K.-C., Shafer, J. A. & Gardell, S. J. (2000. ) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97, 6138–6143. [PubMed] 27. Yu, G., Chen, F., Levesque, G., Nishimura, M., Zhang, D. M., Levesque, L., Rogaeva, E., Xu, D., Liang, Y., Duthie, M., et al. (1998. ) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 16470–16475. [PubMed] 28. Kimberly, W. T., Esler, W. P., Ye, W., Ostaszewski, B. L., Gao, J., Diehl, T., Selkoe, D. J. & Wolfe, M. S. (2003. ) Biochemistry 42, 137–144. [PubMed] 29. Steiner, H., Winkler, E., Edbauer, D., Prokop, S., Basset, G., Yamasaki, A., Kostka, M. & Haass, C. (2002. ) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 39062–39065. [PubMed] |
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Cell. 2000 Feb 18; 100(4):391-8.
[Cell. 2000]Science. 2002 Jun 21; 296(5576):2156-7.
[Science. 2002]Physiol Rev. 2001 Apr; 81(2):741-66.
[Physiol Rev. 2001]Science. 2002 Jun 21; 296(5576):2156-7.
[Science. 2002]Neuron. 1996 Jul; 17(1):181-90.
[Neuron. 1996]Nature. 2000 Jun 8; 405(6787):689-94.
[Nature. 2000]Nat Cell Biol. 2000 Jul; 2(7):428-34.
[Nat Cell Biol. 2000]Nature. 1999 Apr 8; 398(6727):513-7.
[Nature. 1999]Nature. 2000 Sep 7; 407(6800):48-54.
[Nature. 2000]Dev Cell. 2002 Jan; 2(1):69-78.
[Dev Cell. 2002]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Jun 25; 99(13):8666-71.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002]J Biol Chem. 2002 Sep 20; 277(38):35113-7.
[J Biol Chem. 2002]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Mar 5; 99(5):2720-5.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Mar 5; 99(5):2720-5.
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[Anal Biochem. 1991]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Mar 5; 99(5):2720-5.
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[J Biol Chem. 1997]Dev Cell. 2002 Jul; 3(1):85-97.
[Dev Cell. 2002]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Mar 5; 99(5):2720-5.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Mar 5; 99(5):2720-5.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002]J Biol Chem. 1997 Nov 7; 272(45):28415-22.
[J Biol Chem. 1997]J Biol Chem. 2002 Sep 20; 277(38):35113-7.
[J Biol Chem. 2002]J Biol Chem. 2002 Aug 2; 277(31):28135-42.
[J Biol Chem. 2002]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000 May 23; 97(11):6138-43.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Jun 25; 99(13):8666-71.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002]J Biol Chem. 2002 Sep 20; 277(38):35113-7.
[J Biol Chem. 2002]J Biol Chem. 2002 Aug 2; 277(31):28135-42.
[J Biol Chem. 2002]J Biol Chem. 2002 Sep 20; 277(38):35113-7.
[J Biol Chem. 2002]J Biol Chem. 2002 May 24; 277(21):19236-40.
[J Biol Chem. 2002]Nature. 2000 Jun 8; 405(6787):689-94.
[Nature. 2000]Nat Cell Biol. 2000 Jul; 2(7):428-34.
[Nat Cell Biol. 2000]J Biol Chem. 2002 Sep 20; 277(38):35113-7.
[J Biol Chem. 2002]J Biol Chem. 1997 Mar 21; 272(12):7977-82.
[J Biol Chem. 1997]Anal Biochem. 1991 Dec; 199(2):223-31.
[Anal Biochem. 1991]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Mar 5; 99(5):2720-5.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002]J Biol Chem. 1998 Jun 26; 273(26):16470-5.
[J Biol Chem. 1998]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Jun 25; 99(13):8666-71.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000 May 23; 97(11):6138-43.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000]Biochemistry. 2003 Jan 14; 42(1):137-44.
[Biochemistry. 2003]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Jan 22; 99(2):775-9.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002]Dev Cell. 2002 Jul; 3(1):85-97.
[Dev Cell. 2002]Nature. 1999 Apr 8; 398(6727):513-7.
[Nature. 1999]J Biol Chem. 2002 Oct 18; 277(42):39062-5.
[J Biol Chem. 2002]Dev Cell. 2002 Jul; 3(1):85-97.
[Dev Cell. 2002]J Biol Chem. 1998 Jun 26; 273(26):16470-5.
[J Biol Chem. 1998]Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Mar 5; 99(5):2720-5.
[Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002]