Structure and conservation of amyloid spines from the Candida albicans Als5 adhesin including similarity to human LARKS

Candida Als family adhesins mediate adhesion to biological and abiotic substrates, as well as fungal cell aggregation and fungal-bacterial co-aggregation. The activity of at least two family members, Als5 and Als1, is dependent on amyloid-like protein aggregation that is initiated by shear force. Each Als adhesin has a ∼300-residue N-terminal Ig-like/invasin region. The following 108-residue, low complexity, threonine-rich (T) domain unfolds under shear to expose a critical amyloid-forming segment 322SNGIVIVATTRTV334 at the interface between the Ig-like/invasin domain 2 and the T domain of C andida albicans Als5. Amyloid prediction programs identified six potential amyloidogenic sequences in the Ig/invasin region and three others in the T domain of C. albicans Als5. Peptides derived from four of these sequences formed fibrils that bound thioflavin T, the amyloid indicator dye, and three of these revealed atomic-resolution structures of cross-β spines. These are the first atomic-level structures for fungal adhesins. One of these segments, from the T domain, revealed kinked β-sheets, similarly to LARKS (Low-complexity, Amyloid-like, Reversible, Kinked segments) found in human functional amyloids. Based on the cross-β structures in Als proteins, we use evolutionary arguments to identify functional amyloidogenic sequences in other fungal adhesins. Thus, cross-β structures are often involved in fungal pathogenesis and potentially in antifungal therapy. Importance Fungal adhesins form cell-to-cell bonds in biofilms. Many of the cellular interactions are dependent on formation of amyloid-like cross-β protein aggregates. Such structures are called ‘functional amyloids’ because they perform physiological activities and they are dependent on the same types of protein interactions that form the more familiar amyloid deposits in neurodegenerative diseases. We have identified sequence segments that form cross-β structures in the Als5 adhesin from the human pathogen Candida albicans . Such sequences are widespread among ALS family adhesins, including those from other human pathogens including Candida auris . Moreover, we revealed a structural similarity in a segment originating from Als5 threonine-rich low complexity region to human LARKS, pointing on a common structural motif coding for functional amyloids in different kingdoms of life.