O-GlcNAcylation inhibits the oligomerization of alpha-synuclein by declining intermolecular hydrogen bonds through a steric effect

Toxic abnormal aggregation of α-synuclein (α-Syn) is a feature of Parkinson's disease. Several biochemical and biophysical studies have demonstrated that many post-translational modifications (PTM) of α-Syn could distinctly alleviate its oligomerization-mediated toxicity. Recently, a compelling link is emerging between the PTM O-GlcNAcylation (O-GlcNAc) and protein aggregation, yet the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. Based on the all-atom molecular dynamics simulations, we found that O-GlcNAc modifications can suppress the process of oligomerization of α-Syn aggregates via a steric effect-the additional O-linked glycosyl group disrupts the formation of hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) between α-Syn monomers. Besides, we proposed a theoretical model to further capture the physical mechanism of α-Syn aggregation/disaggregation in the absence/presence of O-GlcNAc-modified α-Syn. Our findings unveil the molecular mechanism of the O-GlcNAc-induced inhibition of α-Syn oligomerization, which may help to understand how O-GlcNAc prevents the oligomerization of other proteins and provides the guideline for the development of O-GlcNAc-based therapeutic strategies in neurodegenerative diseases.