A highly conserved tryptophan in the N-terminal variable domain regulates disulfide bond formation and oligomeric assembly of adiponectin

Abstract

Adiponectin is a collagenous adipokine with direct anti-diabetic and anti-atherogenic properties. It can assume an ensemble of oligomeric states, e.g. trimers, hexamers and octadecamers, each being involved in distinct signaling pathways relevant to adiponectin's diverse biological function in metabolism, immunity, inflammation and cellular homeostasis. Assembly of the active variants principally the octadecameric high molecular weight form is achieved via the tightly controlled oxidation of cysteine 39 located in the adiponectin hyper-variable domain (AHD, residues 18-44) between the signal sequence and the collagen-like domain. We show that mutation of a highly conserved tryptophan (W42A) ..