The molecular chaperone β-casein prevents amorphous and fibrillar aggregation of α-lactalbumin by stabilisation of dynamic disorder

Deficits in protein homeostasis (proteostasis) are typified by the partial unfolding or misfolding of native proteins leading to amorphous or fibrillar aggregation, events that have been closely associated with diseases including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Molecular chaperones are intimately involved in maintaining proteostasis, and their mechanisms of action are in part dependent on the morphology of aggregation-prone proteins. This study utilised native ion mobility–mass spectrometry to provide molecular insights into the conformational properties and dynamics of a model protein, α-lactalbumin (α-LA), which aggregates in an amorphous or amyloid fibrillar manner controlled by appropriate selection of experimental conditions. The molecular chaperone β-casein (β-CN) is effective at inhibiting amorphous and fibrillar aggregation of α-LA at sub-stoichiometric ratios, with greater efficiency against fibril formation. Analytical size-exclusion chromatography demonstrates the interaction between β-CN and amorphously aggregating α-LA is stable, forming a soluble high molecular weight complex, whilst with fibril-forming α-LA the interaction is transient. Moreover, ion mobility–mass spectrometry (IM-MS) coupled with collision-induced unfolding (CIU) revealed that α-LA monomers undergo distinct conformational transitions during the initial stages of amorphous (order to disorder) and fibrillar (disorder to order) aggregation. The structural heterogeneity of monomeric α-LA during fibrillation is reduced in the presence of β-CN along with an enhancement in stability, which provides a potential means for preventing fibril formation. Together, this study demonstrates how IM-MS and CIU can investigate the unfolding of proteins as well as examine transient and dynamic protein–chaperone interactions, and thereby provides detailed insight into the mechanism of chaperone action and proteostasis mechanisms.