Structure of human phospholipase D3, a single-strand exonuclease associated with Alzheimer's disease

Phospholipase D3 (PLD3) has emerged as an important 5'-exonuclease in charge of removing single-stranded DNA in lysosomes. Rare genetic variants of the gene encoding PLD3 have been implicated in late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). Ishii et al. have produced the soluble domain of human PLD3 with the aim of determining its three-dimensional structure using X-ray crystallography. The high-resolution structure (2.3 Å) provides new insights into the biochemical properties of the enzyme and paves the way to a deeper understanding of amino acid replacements affecting the stability and activity of the enzyme.