APH-1 (anterior pharynx-defective 1) is a proteingene product originally identified in the Notch signaling pathway in Caenorhabditis elegans as a regulator of the cell-surface localization of nicastrin.[1] APH-1 homologs in other organisms, including humans, have since been identified as components of the gamma secretase complex along with the catalytic subunit presenilin and the regulatory subunits nicastrin and PEN-2. The gamma-secretase complex is a multimeric protease responsible for the intramembrane proteolysis of transmembrane proteins such as the Notch protein and amyloid precursor protein (APP). Gamma-secretase cleavage of APP is one of two proteolytic steps required to generate the peptide known as amyloid beta, whose misfolded form is implicated in the causation of Alzheimer's disease.[2] All of the components of the gamma-secretase complex undergo extensive post-translational modification, especially proteolytic activation; APH-1 and PEN-2 are regarded as regulators of the maturation process of the catalytic component presenilin.[3] APH-1 contains a conserved alpha helix interaction motifglycine-X-X-X-glycine (GXXXG) that is essential to both assembly of the gamma secretase complex and to the maturation of the components.[4]
