Gamma Secretase - Function

Function

Gamma secretase is an internal protease that cleaves within the membrane-spanning domain of its substrate proteins, including amyloid precursor protein (APP) and Notch. Substrate recognition occurs via nicastrin ectodomain binding to the N-terminus of the target, which is then passed via a poorly understood process between the two presenilin fragments to a water-containing active site at which the catalytic aspartate residue resides. The active site must contain water to carry out hydrolysis within a hydrophobic environment in the interior of the cell membrane, although it is not well understood how water and proton exchange is effected, and as yet no X-ray crystallography structure of gamma secretase is available. Low-resolution electron microscopy reconstructions have allowed the visualization of the hypothesized internal pores of about 2 nanometres.

The gamma secretase complex is unusual among proteases in having a "sloppy" cleavage site at the C-terminal site in amyloid beta generation; gamma secretase can cleave APP in any of multiple sites to generate a peptide from 39 to 42 amino acids long, with Aβ40 the most common isoform and Aβ42 the most susceptible to conformational changes leading to amyloid fibrillogenesis. Certain mutations in both APP and in both types of human presenilin are associated with increased Aβ42 production and the early-onset genetic form of familial Alzheimer's disease. Some evidence has suggested that different forms of the gamma secretase complex are differentially responsible for generating different amyloid beta isoforms; however, very recent research indicates that the C-terminus of amyloid beta is produced by a series of single-residue cleavages by the same isoform, beginning with the generation of Aβ46.