G-protein coupled receptors regulate autophagy by ZBTB16-mediated ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of Atg14L

  1. Tao Zhang
  2. Kangyun Dong
  3. Wei Liang
  4. Daichao Xu
  5. Hongguang Xia
  6. Jiefei Geng
  7. Ayaz Najafov
  8. Min Liu
  9. Yanxia Li
  10. Xiaoran Han
  11. Juan Xiao
  12. Zhenzhen Jin
  13. Ting Peng
  14. Yang Gao
  15. Yu Cai
  16. Chunting Qi
  17. Qing Zhang
  18. Anyang Sun
  19. Marta Lipinski
  20. Hong Zhu
  21. Yue Xiong
  22. Pier Paolo Pandolfi
  23. He Li
  24. Qiang Yu
  25. Junying Yuan  Is a corresponding author
  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
  2. Harvard Medical School, United States
  3. Fudan University, China
  4. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China
  5. University of Maryland School of Medicine, United States
  6. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States

Abstract

Autophagy is an important intracellular catabolic mechanism involved in the removal of misfolded proteins. Atg14L, the mammalian orthologue of Atg14 in yeast and a critical regulator of autophagy, mediates the production PtdIns3P to initiate the formation of autophagosomes. However, it is not clear how Atg14L is regulated. Here we demonstrate that ubiquitination and degradation of Atg14L is controlled by ZBTB16-Cullin3-Roc1 E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. Furthermore, we show that a wide range of GPCR ligands and agonists regulate the levels of Atg14L through ZBTB16. In addition, we show that the activation of autophagy by pharmacological inhibition of GPCR reduces the accumulation of misfolded proteins and protects against behavior dysfunction in a mouse model of Huntington's disease. Our study demonstrates a common molecular mechanism by which the activation of GPCRs leads to the suppression of autophagy and a pharmacological strategy to activate autophagy in the CNS for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Tao Zhang

    Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Kangyun Dong

    Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Wei Liang

    Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Daichao Xu

    Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Hongguang Xia

    Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Jiefei Geng

    Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Ayaz Najafov

    Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Min Liu

    Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Yanxia Li

    Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  10. Xiaoran Han

    Molecular and Cell Biology Lab, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  11. Juan Xiao

    Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  12. Zhenzhen Jin

    Department of Histology and Embryology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  13. Ting Peng

    Department of Histology and Embryology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  14. Yang Gao

    Department of Histology and Embryology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  15. Yu Cai

    Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  16. Chunting Qi

    Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  17. Qing Zhang

    Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  18. Anyang Sun

    Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  19. Marta Lipinski

    Department of Anesthesiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  20. Hong Zhu

    Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  21. Yue Xiong

    Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  22. Pier Paolo Pandolfi

    Cancer Research Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  23. He Li

    Department of Histology and Embryology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  24. Qiang Yu

    Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  25. Junying Yuan

    Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
    For correspondence
    jyuan@hms.harvard.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Noboru Mizushima, The University of Tokyo, Japan

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All animal experiments were carried out in accordance with an approved protocol by Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).The protocol was approved by the research ethics committee of Chinese Academy of Sciences(Permit Number:2011-8-YQ-01).

Version history

  1. Received: January 28, 2015
  2. Accepted: March 27, 2015
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: March 30, 2015 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: May 6, 2015 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2015, Zhang et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 3,512
    views
  • 1,042
    downloads
  • 79
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Tao Zhang
  2. Kangyun Dong
  3. Wei Liang
  4. Daichao Xu
  5. Hongguang Xia
  6. Jiefei Geng
  7. Ayaz Najafov
  8. Min Liu
  9. Yanxia Li
  10. Xiaoran Han
  11. Juan Xiao
  12. Zhenzhen Jin
  13. Ting Peng
  14. Yang Gao
  15. Yu Cai
  16. Chunting Qi
  17. Qing Zhang
  18. Anyang Sun
  19. Marta Lipinski
  20. Hong Zhu
  21. Yue Xiong
  22. Pier Paolo Pandolfi
  23. He Li
  24. Qiang Yu
  25. Junying Yuan
(2015)
G-protein coupled receptors regulate autophagy by ZBTB16-mediated ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of Atg14L
eLife 4:e06734.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06734

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06734

Further reading

    1. Cell Biology
    2. Neuroscience
    Mariana I Tsap, Andriy S Yatsenko ... Halyna R Shcherbata
    Research Article Updated

    Mutations in Drosophila Swiss cheese (SWS) gene or its vertebrate orthologue neuropathy target esterase (NTE) lead to progressive neuronal degeneration in flies and humans. Despite its enzymatic function as a phospholipase is well established, the molecular mechanism responsible for maintaining nervous system integrity remains unclear. In this study, we found that NTE/SWS is present in surface glia that forms the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and that NTE/SWS is important to maintain its structure and permeability. Importantly, BBB glia-specific expression of Drosophila NTE/SWS or human NTE in the sws mutant background fully rescues surface glial organization and partially restores BBB integrity, suggesting a conserved function of NTE/SWS. Interestingly, sws mutant glia showed abnormal organization of plasma membrane domains and tight junction rafts accompanied by the accumulation of lipid droplets, lysosomes, and multilamellar bodies. Since the observed cellular phenotypes closely resemble the characteristics described in a group of metabolic disorders known as lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs), our data established a novel connection between NTE/SWS and these conditions. We found that mutants with defective BBB exhibit elevated levels of fatty acids, which are precursors of eicosanoids and are involved in the inflammatory response. Also, as a consequence of a permeable BBB, several innate immunity factors are upregulated in an age-dependent manner, while BBB glia-specific expression of NTE/SWS normalizes inflammatory response. Treatment with anti-inflammatory agents prevents the abnormal architecture of the BBB, suggesting that inflammation contributes to the maintenance of a healthy brain barrier. Considering the link between a malfunctioning BBB and various neurodegenerative diseases, gaining a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms causing inflammation due to a defective BBB could help to promote the use of anti-inflammatory therapies for age-related neurodegeneration.

    1. Cancer Biology
    2. Cell Biology
    Dongyue Jiao, Huiru Sun ... Kun Gao
    Research Article

    Enhanced protein synthesis is a crucial molecular mechanism that allows cancer cells to survive, proliferate, metastasize, and develop resistance to anti-cancer treatments, and often arises as a consequence of increased signaling flux channeled to mRNA-bearing eukaryotic initiation factor 4F (eIF4F). However, the post-translational regulation of eIF4A1, an ATP-dependent RNA helicase and subunit of the eIF4F complex, is still poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that IBTK, a substrate-binding adaptor of the Cullin 3-RING ubiquitin ligase (CRL3) complex, interacts with eIF4A1. The non-degradative ubiquitination of eIF4A1 catalyzed by the CRL3IBTK complex promotes cap-dependent translational initiation, nascent protein synthesis, oncogene expression, and cervical tumor cell growth both in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, we show that mTORC1 and S6K1, two key regulators of protein synthesis, directly phosphorylate IBTK to augment eIF4A1 ubiquitination and sustained oncogenic translation. This link between the CRL3IBTK complex and the mTORC1/S6K1 signaling pathway, which is frequently dysregulated in cancer, represents a promising target for anti-cancer therapies.