Conformational transition state is responsible for assembly of microtubule-binding domain of tau protein

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In the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients, the tau protein dissociates from the axonal microtubule and abnormally aggregates to form a paired helical filament (PHF). One of the priorities in Alzheimer research is to clarify the mechanism of PHF formation. Although several reports on the regulation of tau assembly have been published, it is not yet clear whether in vivo PHFs are composed of β-structures or α-helices. Since the four-repeat microtubule-binding domain (4RMBD) of the tau protein has been considered to play an essential role in PHF formation, its heparin-induced assembly propensity was investigated by the thioflavin fluorescence method to clarify what conformation is most preferred for the assembly. We analyzed the assembly propensity of 4RMBD in Tris–HCl buffer with different trifluoroethanol (TFE) contents, because TFE reversibly induces the transition of the random structure to the α-helical structure in an aqueous solution. Consequently, it was observed that the 4RMBD assembly is most significantly favored to proceed in the 10–30% TFE solution, the concentration of which corresponds to the activated transition state of 4RMBD from a random structure to an α-helical structure, as determined from the circular dichroism (CD) spectral changes. Since such an assembly does not occur in a buffer containing TFE of <10% or >40%, the intermediate conformation between the random and α-helical structures could be most responsible for the PHF formation of 4RMBD. This is the first report to clarify that the non-native α-helical intermediate in transition from random coil is directly associated with filament formation at the start of PHF formation.