Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 12, 2026

Rapid Generation of Amyloid from Native Proteins In vitro
Published on: December 6, 2013
Endoplasmic reticulum-localized amyloid beta-peptide is degraded in the cytosol by two distinct degradation pathways
Anton Schmitz1, Andrea Schneider, Markus P Kummer
1Institut für Zellbiologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Ulrich-Haberland-Str 61a, 53121 Bonn, Germany. anton.schmitz@uni-bonn.de
Abstract:
The paradigm of endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated degradation (ERAD) holds that misfolded secretory and membrane proteins are translocated back to the cytosol and degraded by the proteasome in a coupled process. Analyzing the degradation of ER-localized amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta), we found a divergence from this general model. Cell-free reconstitution of the export in biosynthetically loaded ER-derived brain microsomes showed that the export was mediated by the Sec61p complex and required a cytosolic factor but was independent of ATP. In contrast to the ERAD substrates known so far, the exported Abeta was degraded by both, a proteasome-dependent and a proteasome-independent pathway. RNA interference experiments in Abeta-transfected cells identified the protease of the proteasome-independent pathway as insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE). The IDE-mediated clearance mechanism for ER-localized Abeta represents an as yet unknown type of ERAD which is not entirely dependent on the proteasome.
Related Concept Videos
Amyloid Fibrils
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining, normally used to...
The Proteasome
In this pathway, the target proteins are first tagged with small proteins called ubiquitin. A series of enzymes carry out the ubiquitination of the target proteins - E1 (ubiquitin-activating enzyme), E2 (ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme), and E3...
Protein Folding Quality Check in the RER
Export of Misfolded Proteins out of the ER
Amyloid Fibrils
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining, normally used to...
The Proteasome
In this pathway, the target proteins are first tagged with small proteins called ubiquitin. This involves participation of a series of enzymes including— E1 (ubiquitin-activating enzyme), E2 (ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme), and E3 (ubiquitin...

