Tau-441 (2N4R) Wild-Type Oligomers (Baculovirus/Sf9)

Tau (tubulin-associated unit) is normally located in the axons of neurons where it stabilizes microtubules. Tauopathies such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) are characterized by neurofibrillary tangles containing hyper-phosphorylated tau fibrils (1) with consensus that tau oligomers are the most toxic species initiating neurodegeneration (2). Hyper-phosphorylated tau can be generated via expression in the Sf9/Baculovirus system, with up to 20 sites confirmed by mass spectrometry and western blots with phospho-specific antibodies (3). Our Sf9/Baculovirus-expressed Tau 2N4R oligomers are formed without the use of heparin or another anionic scaffold.

MAEPRQEFEVMEDHAGTYGLGDRKDQGGYTMHQDQEGDTDAGLKESPLQTPTEDGSEEPGSETSDAKSTPTAEDVTAPLVDEGAPGKQAAAQPHTEIPEGTTAEEAGIGDTPSLEDEAAGHVTQARMVSKSKDGTGSDDKKAKGADGKTKIATPRGAAPPGQKGQANATRIPAKTPPAPKTPPSSGEPPKSGDRSGYSSPGSPGTPGSRSRTPSLPTPPTREPKKVAVVRTPPKSPSSAKSRLQTAPVPMPDLKNVKSKIGSTENLKHQPGGGKVQIINKKLDLSNVQSKCGSKDNIKHVPGGGSVQIVYKPVDLSKVTSKCGSLGNIHHKPGGGQVEVKSEKLDFKDRVQSKIGSLDNITHVPGGGNKKIETHKLTFRENAKAKTDHGAEIVYKSPVVSGDTSPRHLSNVSSTGSIDMVDSPQLATLADEVSASLAKQGL

1. Iqbal K., Liu F., and Gong C.X. 2016. Tau and neurodegenerative disease: The story so far. Nat. Rev. Neurol. DOI: 10.1038/nrneurol.2015.225 2. Puangmalai, N., Bhatt, N., Montalbano, M. et al. 2020. Internalization mechanisms of brain-derived tau oligomers from patients with Alzheimer’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy and dementia with Lewy bodies. Cell Death Dis. DOI: 10.1038/s41419-020-2503-3 3. Tepper et al. 2014. Oligomer Formation of Tau Protein Hyperphophorylated in Cells. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M114.611368