Inter- and intra-octarepeat Cu(II) site geometries in the prion protein: implications in Cu(II) binding cooperativity and Cu(II)-mediated assemblies

Cu(II) binding to the alpha prion protein (alphaPrP) can be both intramolecular and intermolecular. X-ray absorption spectroscopy at the copper K-edge has been used to explore the site geometry under each binding mode using both insoluble polymeric Cu(II).alphaBoPrP-(24-242) (bovine PrP) complexes and soluble Cu(II) complexes of peptides containing one, two, and four copies of the octarepeat. Analysis of the extended region of the spectra using a multiple scattering approach revealed two types of sites differing in the number of His residues in the first coordination shell of Cu(II). Peptides containing one and two-octarepeat copies in sub-stoichiometric Cu(II) complexes showed the direct binding of a single His in accord with crystallographic intra-repeat geometry. Alternatively, the polymeric Cu(II).alphaBoPrP-(24-242) complex and Cu(II) in its soluble complex with a four-octarepeat peptide at half-site-occupancy showed Cu(II) directly bound to two His residues, consistent with an inter-repeat binding mode. Increasing the Cu(II) site occupancy from 0.5 to 0.75 in the peptide containing four octarepeats resulted in spectral features that are intermediate to those of the inter- and intra-repeat modes. The transition from His-Cu-His (inter-repeat) to Cu-His (intra-repeat) on increasing Cu(II) saturation offers a structural basis for the positive cooperativity of the cation binding process and explains the capacity of alphaPrP to participate in Cu(II)-mediated intermolecular interactions.