P301 L, an FTDP-17 Mutant, Exhibits Enhanced Glycation in vitro.

Frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism-linked to chromosome-17 are a group of diseases with tau mutations leading to primary tauopathies which include progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal syndrome, and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Alzheimer's disease is a non-primary tauopathy, which displays tau neuropathology of excess tangle formation and accumulation. FTDP-17 mutations are responsible for early onset of AD, which can be attributed to compromised physiological functions due to the mutations. Tau is a microtubule-binding protein that secures the integrity of polymerized microtubules in neuronal cells. It malfunctions owing to various insults and stress conditions-like mutations and post-translational modifications.In this study, we modified the wild type and tau mutants by methyl glyoxal and thus studied whether glycation can enhance the aggregation of predisposed mutant tau.Tau glycation was studied by fluorescence assays, SDS-PAGE analysis, conformational evaluation, and transmission electron microscopy.Our study suggests that FTDP-17 mutant P301 L leads to enhanced glycation-induced aggregation as well as advanced glycation end products formation. Glycation forms amorphous aggregates of tau and its mutants without altering its native conformation.The metabolic anomalies and genetic predisposition have found to accelerate tau-mediated neurodegeneration and prove detrimental for the early-onset of Alzheimer's disease.