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Insulin is susceptible to fibrillation, a misfolding process leading to well ordered cross-β assembly. Protection from fibrillation in β cells is provided by sequestration of the susceptible monomer within zinc hexamers. We demonstrate that proinsulin is refractory to fibrillation under conditions that promote the rapid fibrillation of zinc-free insulin. Proinsulin fibrils, as probed by Raman microscopy, are nonetheless similar in structure to insulin fibrils. The connecting peptide, although not well ordered in native proinsulin, participates in a fibril-specific β-sheet. Native insulin and proinsulin exhibit similar free energies of unfolding as inferred from guanidine denaturation studies: relative amyloidogenicities are thus not correlated with global stability. Strikingly, the susceptibility of proinsulin to fibrillation is increased by scission of the connecting peptide at single sites. We thus propose that the connecting peptide constrains a large scale conformational change in the misfolded protein. A tethering mechanism is proposed based on a model of an insulin protofilament derived from electron-microscopic image reconstruction. The proposed relationship between cross-β assembly and protein topology is supported by studies of single-chain analogs (mini-proinsulin and insulin-like growth factor I) in which foreshortened connecting peptides further retard fibrillation. In addition to its classic function to facilitate disulfide pairing, the connecting peptide may protect β cells from toxic protein misfolding in the endoplasmic reticulum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proinsulin exhibits a single structure, whereas insulin-like growth factors refold as two disulfide isomers in equilibrium. Native insulin-related growth factor (IGF)-I has canonical cystines (A6-A11, A7-B7, and A20-B19) maintained by IGF-binding proteins; IGF-swap has alternative pairing (A7-A11, A6 -B7, and A20 -B19) and impaired activity. Studies of mini- domain models suggest that residue B5 (His in insulin and Thr in IGFs) governs the ambiguity or uniqueness of disulfide pairing. Residue B5, a site of mutation in proinsulin causing neonatal diabetes, is thus of broad biophysical interest. Here, we characterize reciprocal B5 substitutions in the two proteins. In insulin, HisB5 → Thr markedly destabilizes the hormone (ΔΔGu 2.0 ± 0.2 kcal/mol), impairs chain combination, and blocks cellular secretion of proinsulin. The reciprocal IGF-I substitution ThrB5 → His (residue 4) specifies a unique structure with native ¹H NMR signature. Chemical shifts and nuclear Overhauser effects are similar to those of native IGF-I. Whereas wild-type IGF-I undergoes thiol-catalyzed disulfide exchange to yield IGF-swap, HisB5-IGF-I retains canonical pairing. Chemical denaturation studies indicate that HisB5 does not significantly enhance thermodynamic stability (ΔΔGu 0.2 ± 0.2 kcal/mol), implying that the substitution favors canonical pairing by destabilizing competing folds. Whereas the activity of ThrB5-insulin is decreased 5-fold, HisB5-IGF-I exhibits 2-fold increased affinity for the IGF receptor and augmented post-receptor signaling. We propose that conservation of ThrB5 in IGF-I, rescued from structural ambiguity by IGF-binding proteins, reflects fine-tuning of signal transduction. In contrast, the conservation of HisB5 in insulin highlights its critical role in insulin biosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]