PMID: 2120490May 1, 1990Paper

Phosphorylation of tau protein

Nihon Ronen Igakkai zasshi. Japanese journal of geriatrics
T Uchida, K Ishiguro

Abstract

In aged human brain and particularly in Alzheimer's disease brain, paired helical filaments (PHFs) accumulate in the neuronal cell. Recently, it has been found that the highly phosphorylated tau protein, one of the microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs), is a component of PHF. The authors attempted to clarify the mechanism underlying the accumulation of PHF from the following two aspects; 1) What is the mechanism of phosphorylation of tau protein? 2) Is the highly phosphorylated tau protein capable of forming PHFs? From rat or bovine microtubule proteins we partially purified and characterized a novel protein kinase that specifically phosphorylated tau and MAP2 among many proteins in the brain extract, and which formed a PHF epitope on the phosphorylated human tau. This enzyme was one of the protein serine/threonine kinases and was independent of known second messengers. The phosphorylation of tau by this enzyme was stimulated by tubulin under the condition of microtubule formation, suggesting that the phosphorylation of tau could occur concomitantly with microtubule formation in the brain. Since this kinase was usually bound to tau but not directly to tubulin, the enzyme was associated with microtubules through tau. From these...Continue Reading

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