Using epitope mapping we have demonstrated that a high molecular weight protein (Mr approximately 115 x 10(3)) present in brain and spinal cord is a member of the tau family of microtubule-associated proteins. Antibodies directed against the amino-terminal, middle and carboxyl-terminal portions of tau recognize this protein. A limited survey of neuronal tissues has shown that this high molecula...

In normal adult brain the microtubule associated protein (MAP) tau contains 2-3 phosphates per mol of the protein and at this level of phosphorylation it is a soluble cytosolic protein. The normal brain tau interacts with tubulin and promotes its assembly into microtubules and stabilizes these fibrils. In Alzheimer disease (AD) brain tau is three to fourfold hyperphosphorylated. The abnormally ...

It is now known that proteins associated with neurodegenerative disease can spread throughout the brain in a prionlike manner. However, the mechanisms regulating the trans-synaptic spread propagation, including the neuronal release of these proteins, remain unknown. The interaction of neurodegenerative disease-associated proteins with the molecular chaperone Hsc70 is well known, and we hypothes...

Microtubule-associated Tau proteins belong to a family of factors that polymerize tubulin dimers and stabilize microtubules. Tau is strongly expressed in neurons, localized in the axon and is essential for neuronal plasticity and network. From the very beginning of Tau discovery, proteomics methods have been essential to the knowledge of Tau biochemistry and biology. In this review, we have sum...

Microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs), such as tau, modulate neuronal shape and process outgrowth by influencing the stability and organization of microtubules. The dynamic nature of MAP-microtubule interactions in vivo, however, is poorly understood. Here, we have assessed the stability of these interactions by investigating the synthesis and axoplasmic transport of tau in relation to that of...

Relative to a hereditary torsion theory $tau$ we introduce a dimension for a module $M$, called {em $tau$-rank of} $M$, which coincides with the reduced rank of $M$ whenever $tau$ is the Goldie torsion theory. It is shown that the $tau$-rank of $M$ is measured by the length of certain decompositions of the $tau$-injective hull of $M$. Moreover, some relations between the $tau$-rank of $M$ and c...

We develop a formalism for single molecule dynamic force spectroscopy to map the energy landscape of protein-protein complex (P(1)P(2)). The joint distribution P(tau(1),tau(2)) of unbinding lifetimes tau(1) and tau(2), measurable in a compression-tension cycle, which accounts for the internal relaxation dynamics of the proteins under tension, shows that the histogram of tau(1) is not Poissonian...

The human parvulin Pin1 is a member of the peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase group of proteins, which modulate the assembly, folding, activity, and transport of essential cellular proteins. Pin1 is a mitotic regulator interacting with a range of proteins that are phosphorylated before cell division. In addition, an involvement of Pin1 in the tau-related neurodegenerative brain disorders has r...

Aggregation of the microtubule-associated protein tau is a key feature of Alzheimer’s disease and other so-called tauopathies, yet what causes this protein to aggregate and what renders it toxic is only slowly being revealed. Because tau spreads in a stereotypical pattern through the diseased brain, it has been proposed that it possesses prion-like properties, with aggregation-prone tau facilit...

Neurofibrillary tangles, which are major pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD), are composed of paired helical filaments (PHFs) containing hyperphosphorylated tau. Specific kinases regulate tau phosphorylation and are closely linked to the pathogenesis of AD. We have characterized a human tau-tubulin kinase 1 (TTBK1) gene located on chromosome 6p21.1. TTBK1 is a serine/threonine/ty...