Structural characterization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae prion-like protein Ure2

Sacchromyces cerevisiae prion-like protein Ure2 was expressed in Escherichia coli and was purified to homogeneity. We show here that Ure2p is a soluble protein that can assemble into fibers that are similar to the fibers observed in the case of PrP in its scrapie prion filaments form or that form on Sup35 self-assembly. Ure2p self-assembly is a cooperative process where one can distinguish a lag phase followed by an elongation phase preceding a plateau. A combination of size exclusion chromatography, sedimentation velocity, and electron microscopy demonstrates that the soluble form of Ure2p consists at least of three forms of the protein as follows: a monomeric, dimeric, and tetrameric form whose abundance is concentration-dependent. By the use of limited proteolysis, intrinsic fluorescence, and circular dichroism measurements, we bring strong evidence for the existence of at least two structural domains in Ure2p molecules. Indeed, Ure2p NH2-terminal region is found poorly structured, whereas its COOH-terminal domain appears to be compactly folded. Finally, we show that only slight conformational changes accompany Ure2p assembly into insoluble high molecular weight oligomers. These changes essentially affect the COOH-terminal part of the molecule. The properties of Ure2p are compared in the discussion to that of other prion-like proteins such as Sup35 and mammalian prion protein PrP.