A novel hotspot of gelsolin instability and aggregation propensity triggers a new mechanism of amyloidosis

The multidomain protein gelsolin (GSN) is composed of six homologous modules, sequentially named G1 to G6. Single point substitutions in this protein are responsible for AGel amyloidosis, a hereditary disease characterized by progressive corneal lattice dystrophy, cutis laxa, and polyneuropathy. Several different amyloidogenic variants of GSN have been identified over the years, but only the most common D187N/Y mutants, in G2, have been thoroughly characterized, and the underlying functional mechanistic link between mutation, altered protein structure, susceptibility to aberrant furin cleavage and aggregative potential resolved. Little is known about the recently identified mutations A551P, E553K and M517R hosted at the interface between G4 and G5, whose aggregation process likely follows an alternative pathway. We demonstrate that these three substitutions impair temperature and pressure stability of GSN but do not increase its susceptibility to furin cleavage, the first event of the canonical aggregation pathway. The variants are also characterized by a higher tendency to aggregate in the unproteolysed forms and show a higher proteotoxicity in a C. elegans-based assay. Structural studies point to a destabilization of the interface between G4 and G5 due to three different structural determinants: beta-strand breaking, steric hindrance and/or charge repulsion, all implying the impairment of interdomain contacts. All available evidence suggests that the rearrangement of the protein global architecture triggers a furin-independent aggregation of the protein, supporting the existence of a non-canonical pathway of gelsolin amyloidosis pathogenesis.