The peptide hormone glucagon forms amyloid fibrils with two coexisting β-strand conformations

Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2019 Jul;26(7):592-598. doi: 10.1038/s41594-019-0238-6. Epub 2019 Jun 24.

Abstract

Glucagon and insulin maintain blood glucose homeostasis and are used to treat hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia, respectively, in patients with diabetes. Whereas insulin is stable for weeks in its solution formulation, glucagon fibrillizes rapidly at the acidic pH required for solubility and is therefore formulated as a lyophilized powder that is reconstituted in an acidic solution immediately before use. Here we use solid-state NMR to determine the atomic-resolution structure of fibrils of synthetic human glucagon grown at pharmaceutically relevant low pH. Unexpectedly, two sets of chemical shifts are observed, indicating the coexistence of two β-strand conformations. The two conformations have distinct water accessibilities and intermolecular contacts, indicating that they alternate and hydrogen bond in an antiparallel fashion along the fibril axis. Two antiparallel β-sheets assemble with symmetric homodimer cross sections. This amyloid structure is stabilized by numerous aromatic, cation-π, polar and hydrophobic interactions, suggesting mutagenesis approaches to inhibit fibrillization could improve this important drug.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amyloid / chemistry*
  • Amyloid / ultrastructure
  • Glucagon / chemistry*
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen Bonding
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry
  • Protein Conformation, beta-Strand
  • Protein Multimerization
  • Solubility

Substances

  • Amyloid
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Glucagon