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The presenilin proteins (PS1 and PS2) and their interacting partners nicastrin, aph-1 (refs 4, 5) and pen-2 (ref. 5) form a series of high-molecular-mass, membrane-bound protein complexes that are necessary for gamma-secretase and epsilon-secretase cleavage of selected type 1 transmembrane proteins, including the amyloid precursor protein, Notch and cadherins. Modest cleavage activity can be generated by reconstituting these four proteins in yeast and Spodoptera frugiperda (sf9) cells. However, a critical but unanswered question about the biology of the presenilin complexes is how their activity is modulated in terms of substrate specificity and/or relative activities at the gamma and epsilon sites. A corollary to this question is whether additional proteins in the presenilin complexes might subsume these putative regulatory functions. The hypothesis that additional proteins might exist in the presenilin complexes is supported by the fact that enzymatically active complexes have a mass that is much greater than predicted for a 1:1:1:1 stoichiometric complex (at least 650 kDa observed, compared with about 220 kDa predicted). To address these questions we undertook a search for presenilin-interacting proteins that differentially affected gamma- and epsilon-site cleavage events. Here we report that TMP21, a member of the p24 cargo protein family, is a component of presenilin complexes and differentially regulates gamma-secretase cleavage without affecting epsilon-secretase activity.

Signal transduction through Toll-like receptors (TLRs) originates from their intracellular Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain, which binds to MyD88, a common adaptor protein containing a TIR domain. Although cytokine production is completely abolished in MyD88-deficient mice, some responses to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), including the induction of interferon-inducible genes and the maturation of dendritic cells, are still observed. Another adaptor, TIRAP (also known as Mal), has been cloned as a molecule that specifically associates with TLR4 and thus may be responsible for the MyD88-independent response. Here we report that LPS-induced splenocyte proliferation and cytokine production are abolished in mice lacking TIRAP. As in MyD88-deficient mice, LPS activation of the nuclear factor NF-kappaB and mitogen-activated protein kinases is induced with delayed kinetics in TIRAP-deficient mice. Expression of interferon-inducible genes and the maturation of dendritic cells is observed in these mice; they also show defective response to TLR2 ligands, but not to stimuli that activate TLR3, TLR7 or TLR9. In contrast to previous suggestions, our results show that TIRAP is not specific to TLR4 signalling and does not participate in the MyD88-independent pathway. Instead, TIRAP has a crucial role in the MyD88-dependent signalling pathway shared by TLR2 and TLR4.

The presenilin proteins (PS1 and PS2) and their interacting partners nicastrin, aph-1 (refs 4, 5) and pen-2 (ref. 5) form a series of high-molecular-mass, membrane-bound protein complexes that are necessary for gamma-secretase and epsilon-secretase cleavage of selected type 1 transmembrane proteins, including the amyloid precursor protein, Notch and cadherins. Modest cleavage activity can be generated by reconstituting these four proteins in yeast and Spodoptera frugiperda (sf9) cells. However, a critical but unanswered question about the biology of the presenilin complexes is how their activity is modulated in terms of substrate specificity and/or relative activities at the gamma and epsilon sites. A corollary to this question is whether additional proteins in the presenilin complexes might subsume these putative regulatory functions. The hypothesis that additional proteins might exist in the presenilin complexes is supported by the fact that enzymatically active complexes have a mass that is much greater than predicted for a 1:1:1:1 stoichiometric complex (at least 650 kDa observed, compared with about 220 kDa predicted). To address these questions we undertook a search for presenilin-interacting proteins that differentially affected gamma- and epsilon-site cleavage events. Here we report that TMP21, a member of the p24 cargo protein family, is a component of presenilin complexes and differentially regulates gamma-secretase cleavage without affecting epsilon-secretase activity.

Nature 408 , 740 - 744 (2000 ). Figure 1 was printed incorrectly in this paper owing to a font error. The correct Fig. 1 is reproduced below.