Jacek Biernat

TL;DR: The data indicate that PHF assembly is initiated by a short fragment containing the minimal interaction motif forming a local beta structure embedded in a largely random-coil protein.

TL;DR: Although MAP kinase efficiently phosphorylates many Ser/Thr-Pro motifs of tau, its effect on microtubule binding is only moderate, and phosphorylation of a single residue, Ser262, has a major effect on binding.

TL;DR: It is reported here that indirubins are also powerful inhibitors (IC(50): 5-50 nm) of an evolutionarily related kinase, glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (GSK-3 beta), and it is shown that many, but not all, reported CDK inhibitors are powerful inhibitors of GSK-3 Beta.

TL;DR: The role of the neuronal microtubule-associated protein tau has been studied by generating a series of tau constructs differing in one or several of its subdomains: length and composition of the repeat domains, extensions of the repeats in the N- or C-terminal direction, constructs without repeats, assembly vs projection domain, and number of N- terminal inserts.

TL;DR: It is proposed that MAP kinase is abnormally active in Alzheimer brain tissue, or that the corresponding phosphatases are abnormally passive, due to a breakdown of the normal regulatory mechanisms.