3D domain swapping, protein oligomerization, and amyloid formation

In 3D domain swapping, first described by Eisenberg, a structural element of a monomeric protein is replaced by the same element from another subunit. This pro­cess requires partial unfolding of the closed monomers that is then followed by adhe­sion and reconstruction of the original fold but from elements contributed by different subunits. If the interactions are reciprocal, a closed-ended dimer will be formed, but the same phenomenon has been suggested as a mechanism for the formation of open-ended polymers as well, such as those believed to exist in amyloid fibrils. There has been a rapid progress in the study of 3D domain swapping. Oligomers higher than dimers have been found, the monomer-dimer equilibrium could be controlled by mu­tations in the hinge element of the chain, a single protein has been shown to form more than one domain-swapped structure, and recently, the possibility of simulta­neous exchange of two structural domains by a single molecule has been demon­strated. This last discovery has an important bearing on the possibility that 3D do­main swapping might be indeed an amyloidogenic mechanism. Along the same lines is the discovery that a protein of proven amyloidogenic properties, human cystatin C, is capable of 3D domain swapping that leads to oligomerization. The structure of domain- swapped human cystatin C dimers explains why a naturally occurring mutant of this protein has a much higher propensity for aggregation, and also suggests how this same mechanism of 3D domain swapping could lead to an open-ended polymer that would be consistent with the cross-β structure, which is believed to be at the heart of the molecular architecture of amyloid fibrils.