bims-lymeca 2022-10-02 papers

Issue of 2022‒10‒02
six papers selected by
Harilaos Filippakis
University of New England

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Oct 04. 119(40): e2210353119

Spns1 is a lysophospholipid transporter mediating lysosomal phospholipid salvage.

Menglan He, Alvin C Y Kuk, Mei Ding, Cheen Fei Chin, Dwight L A Galam, Jie Min Nah, Bryan C Tan, Hui Li Yeo, Geok Lin Chua, Peter I Benke, Markus R Wenk, Lena Ho, Federico Torta, David L Silver.

The lysosome is central to the degradation of proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids and their salvage back to the cytosol for reutilization. Lysosomal transporters for amino acids, sugars, and cholesterol have been identified, and the metabolic fates of these molecules in the cytoplasm have been elucidated. Remarkably, it is not known whether lysosomal salvage exists for glycerophospholipids, the major constituents of cellular membranes. By using a transport assay screen against orphan lysosomal transporters, we identified the major facilitator superfamily protein Spns1 that is ubiquitously expressed in all tissues as a proton-dependent lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) and lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE) transporter, with LPC and LPE being the lysosomal breakdown products of the most abundant eukaryotic phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine, respectively. Spns1 deficiency in cells, zebrafish embryos, and mouse liver resulted in lysosomal accumulation of LPC and LPE species with pathological consequences on lysosomal function. Flux analysis using stable isotope-labeled phospholipid apolipoprotein E nanodiscs targeted to lysosomes showed that LPC was transported out of lysosomes in an Spns1-dependent manner and re-esterified back into the cytoplasmic pools of phosphatidylcholine. Our findings identify a phospholipid salvage pathway from lysosomes to the cytosol that is dependent on Spns1 and critical for maintaining normal lysosomal function.

Keywords: Mfsd2a; autophagy; lysosome; phospholipid; transporter

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2210353119

Life Sci. 2022 Sep 21. pii: S0024-3205(22)00689-0. [Epub ahead of print]308 120989

Raptor knockdown concurrently increases the electrical resistance and paracellular permeability of Caco-2 cell monolayers.

Harleen Kaur, Régis Moreau.

AIMS: As a critical regulatory point of nutrient sensing, growth and metabolism, the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) is poised to influence intestinal homeostasis under basal conditions and in disease state. Intestinal barrier integrity ensures tissue homeostasis by closely regulating the permeability of the epithelium to lumenal contents. The role of mTORC1 in the regulation of intestinal barrier function and permeability remains to be fully elucidated.MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, we employed lentivirus-mediated knockdown of mTORC1 signaling-associated proteins Raptor (regulatory-associated protein of mTOR) and TSC2 (tuberin) to ascertain the effects of constitutive activation or repression of mTORC1 activity on barrier function in Caco-2 cell monolayers.
KEY FINDINGS: Results showed that the loss of Raptor concomitantly raised the transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) and para/transcellular permeability leading to a cell monolayer that is leaky for dextran yet electrically resistant to the movement of ions. Paracellular permeability was linked to the downregulation of tight junction protein expression and enhanced autophagy. Raptor-depleted cells had the highest abundance of myosin binding subunit MYPT1 concomitantly with the lowest abundance of p-MYPT1 (Thr696) and phosphorylated myosin light chain (p-MLC, Ser19) implying that MLC phosphatase activity was increased resulting in MLC relaxation. Although rapamycin suppressed mTORC1 activity and decreased the abundance of tight junction proteins in control cells, rapamycin caused a modest increase of TEER compared to Raptor knockdown.
SIGNIFICANCE: The study showed that epithelium paracellular permeability of small molecular weight dextran is dissociated from TEER.

Keywords: Autophagy; Claudin; Intestinal epithelium; Rapamycin; Tight junction; mTORC1

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2022.120989

Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 26. 13(1): 5640

Modeling tissue-specific breakpoint proximity of structural variations from whole-genomes to identify cancer drivers.

Alexander Martinez-Fundichely, Austin Dixon, Ekta Khurana.

Structural variations (SVs) in cancer cells often impact large genomic regions with functional consequences. However, identification of SVs under positive selection is a challenging task because little is known about the genomic features related to the background breakpoint distribution in different cancers. We report a method that uses a generalized additive model to investigate the breakpoint proximity curves from 2,382 whole-genomes of 32 cancer types. We find that a multivariate model, which includes linear and nonlinear partial contributions of various tissue-specific features and their interaction terms, can explain up to 57% of the observed deviance of breakpoint proximity. In particular, three-dimensional genomic features such as topologically associating domains (TADs), TAD-boundaries and their interaction with other features show significant contributions. The model is validated by identification of known cancer genes and revealed putative drivers in cancers different than those with previous evidence of positive selection.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32945-2

Nat Commun. 2022 Sep 28. 13(1): 5696

TFEB regulates sulfur amino acid and coenzyme A metabolism to support hepatic metabolic adaptation and redox homeostasis.

David Matye, Sumedha Gunewardena, Jianglei Chen, Huaiwen Wang, Yifeng Wang, Mohammad Nazmul Hasan, Lijie Gu, Yung Dai Clayton, Yanhong Du, Cheng Chen, Jacob E Friedman, Shelly C Lu, Wen-Xing Ding, Tiangang Li.

Fatty liver is a highly heterogenous condition driven by various pathogenic factors in addition to the severity of steatosis. Protein insufficiency has been causally linked to fatty liver with incompletely defined mechanisms. Here we report that fatty liver is a sulfur amino acid insufficient state that promotes metabolic inflexibility via limiting coenzyme A availability. We demonstrate that the nutrient-sensing transcriptional factor EB synergistically stimulates lysosome proteolysis and methionine adenosyltransferase to increase cysteine pool that drives the production of coenzyme A and glutathione, which support metabolic adaptation and antioxidant defense during increased lipid influx. Intriguingly, mice consuming an isocaloric protein-deficient Western diet exhibit selective hepatic cysteine, coenzyme A and glutathione deficiency and acylcarnitine accumulation, which are reversed by cystine supplementation without normalizing dietary protein intake. These findings support a pathogenic link of dysregulated sulfur amino acid metabolism to metabolic inflexibility that underlies both overnutrition and protein malnutrition-associated fatty liver development.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33465-9

J Cell Biol. 2022 Nov 07. pii: e202110114. [Epub ahead of print]221(11):

Type II phosphatidylinositol 4-kinases function sequentially in cargo delivery from early endosomes to melanosomes.

Yueyao Zhu, Shuixing Li, Alexa Jaume, Riddhi Atul Jani, Cédric Delevoye, Graça Raposo, Michael S Marks.

Melanosomes are pigment cell-specific lysosome-related organelles in which melanin pigments are synthesized and stored. Melanosome maturation requires delivery of melanogenic cargoes via tubular transport carriers that emanate from early endosomes and that require BLOC-1 for their formation. Here we show that phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PtdIns4P) and the type II PtdIns-4-kinases (PI4KIIα and PI4KIIβ) support BLOC-1-dependent tubule formation to regulate melanosome biogenesis. Depletion of either PI4KIIα or PI4KIIβ with shRNAs in melanocytes reduced melanin content and misrouted BLOC-1-dependent cargoes to late endosomes/lysosomes. Genetic epistasis, cell fractionation, and quantitative live-cell imaging analyses show that PI4KIIα and PI4KIIβ function sequentially and non-redundantly downstream of BLOC-1 during tubule elongation toward melanosomes by generating local pools of PtdIns4P. The data show that both type II PtdIns-4-kinases are necessary for efficient BLOC-1-dependent tubule elongation and subsequent melanosome contact and content delivery during melanosome biogenesis. The independent functions of PtdIns-4-kinases in tubule extension are downstream of likely redundant functions in BLOC-1-dependent tubule initiation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202110114

Methods Mol Biol. 2023 ;2554 1-10

Protein-Metabolite Interactions Shape Cellular Metabolism and Physiology.

Prathibha Muralidhara, Jennifer C Ewald.

Protein-metabolite interactions regulate many important cellular processes but still remain understudied. Recent technological advancements are gradually uncovering the complexity of the protein-metabolite interactome. Here, we highlight some classic and recent examples of how protein metabolite interactions regulate metabolism, both locally and globally, and how this contributes to cellular physiology. We also discuss the importance of these interactions in diseases such as cancer.

Keywords: Allosteric regulation; Interactome; Metabolic disease; Metabolic regulation; Metabolism; PMI; Protein–metabolite interactions; Signaling; Small molecule regulators

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2624-5_1