LAUSR

Many age-dependent neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, are characterised by abundant inclusions of amyloid filaments. Filamentous inclusions of the proteins tau, amyloid-β (Aβ), α-synuclein and TDP-43 are the most common1,2. Here, we used electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) structure determination to show that residues 120-254 of the lysosomal type II transmembrane protein 106B (TMEM106B) also form amyloid filaments in human brains. We determined the cryo-EM structures of TMEM106B filaments from a number of brain regions of 22 individuals with abundant amyloid deposits, including sporadic and inherited tauopathies, Aβ-amyloidoses, synucleinopathies and TDP-43 proteinopathies, as well as from the frontal cortex of 3 neurologically normal individuals with no or only few amyloid deposits. We observed three TMEM106B folds, with no clear relationships between folds and diseases. TMEM106B filaments correlated with the presence of a 29 kDa sarkosyl-insoluble fragment and globular cytoplasmic inclusions, as detected by an antibody specific for the C-terminal region of TMEM106B. The identification of TMEM106B filaments in the brains of older, but not younger, neurologically normal individuals indicates that they form in an age-dependent manner.