Tau hyperphosphorylation impairs cooperative binding to microtubules and perturbs organelle trafficking in neurons

Tau, a neuronal microtubule-associated protein (MAP), organizes the axonal cytoskeleton and regulates intracellular transport. Tau hyperphosphorylation is linked to neurodegeneration in tauopathies including Alzheimer’s disease. Tau binds microtubules cooperatively to form cohesive tau envelopes, which are thought to control access to the microtubule lattice and regulate the activity of motor proteins and other microtubule-associated proteins. However, how disease-related perturbations affect tau dynamics and its function as a selective barrier to intracellular transport remains unclear. Using tau phosphomutants in vitro and in live neurons, we show that tau hyperphosphorylation disrupts cooperative binding and dysregulates lysosome transport. Hyperphosphorylated tau does not form envelopes, distributes more uniformly along the axon, and dissociates faster from microtubules. Tau weakly inhibits KIF5C motility, but strongly inhibits KIF1A. Hyperphosphorylation reduces KIF5C inhibition but increases KIF1A inhibition by decreasing processivity and accelerating detachment. Consistent with these effects, hyperphosphorylated tau alters lysosome transport in neurons. While phospho-resistant tau inhibits processive lysosome motility, hyperphosphorylated tau weakens tau-mediated regulation of lysosome transport—mimicking tau knockout neurons that exhibit enhanced processivity. Altogether, these findings show that hyperphosphorylation disrupts tau envelopes and impairs lysosome trafficking, likely contributing to early defects in degradative pathways that drive neurodegeneration.