bims-auttor 2019-05-12 papers

Issue of 2019–05–12
two papers selected by
Viktor Korolchuk, Newcastle University

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 May 09. pii: 201804013. [Epub ahead of print]

Activation of PASK by mTORC1 is required for the onset of the terminal differentiation program.

Chintan K Kikani, Xiaoying Wu, Sarah Fogarty, Seong Anthony Woo Kang, Noah Dephoure, Steven P Gygi, David M Sabatini, Jared Rutter.

During skeletal muscle regeneration, muscle stem cells (MuSCs) respond to multiple signaling inputs that converge onto mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling pathways. mTOR function is essential for establishment of the differentiation-committed progenitors (early stage of differentiation, marked by the induction of myogenin expression), myotube fusion, and, ultimately, hypertrophy (later stage of differentiation). While a major mTORC1 substrate, p70S6K, is required for myotube fusion and hypertrophy, an mTORC1 effector for the induction of myogenin expression remains unclear. Here, we identified Per-Arnt-Sim domain kinase (PASK) as a downstream phosphorylation target of mTORC1 in MuSCs during differentiation. We have recently shown that the PASK phosphorylates Wdr5 to stimulate MuSC differentiation by epigenetically activating the myogenin promoter. We show that phosphorylation of PASK by mTORC1 is required for the activation of myogenin transcription, exit from self-renewal, and induction of the myogenesis program. Our studies reveal that mTORC1-PASK signaling is required for the rise of myogenin-positive committed myoblasts (early stage of myogenesis), whereas mTORC1-S6K signaling is required for myoblast fusion (later stage of myogenesis). Thus, our discoveries allow molecular dissection of mTOR functions during different stages of the myogenesis program driven by two different substrates.

Keywords: PASK; Pax7; mTOR; muscle stem cell; myogenin

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1804013116

Autophagy. 2019 May 08.

How RB1CC1/FIP200 claws its way to autophagic engulfment of SQSTM1/p62-ubiquitin condensates.

Eleonora Turco, Marie Witt, Christine Abert, Tobias Bock-Bierbaum, Ming-Yuan Su, Riccardo Trapannone, Martin Sztacho, Alberto Danieli, Xiaoshan Shi, Gabriele Zaffagnini, Annamaria Gamper, Martina Schuschnig, Dorotea Fracchiolla, Daniel Bernklau, Julia Romanov, Markus Hartl, James H Hurley, Oliver Daumke, Sascha Martens.

Macroautophagy/autophagy mediates the degradation of ubiquitinated aggregated proteins within lysosomes in a process known as aggrephagy. The cargo receptor SQSTM1/p62 condenses aggregated proteins into larger structures and links them to the nascent autophagosomal membrane (phagophore). How the condensation reaction and autophagosome formation are coupled is unclear. We recently discovered that a region of SQSTM1 containing its LIR motif directly interacts with RB1CC1/FIP200, a protein acting at early stages of autophagosome formation. Determination of the structure of the C-terminal region of RB1CC1 revealed a claw-shaped domain. Using a structure-function approach, we show that the interaction of SQSTM1 with the RB1CC1 claw domain is crucial for the productive recruitment of the autophagy machinery to ubiquitin-positive condensates and their subsequent degradation by autophagy. We also found that concentrated Atg8-family proteins on the phagophore displace RB1CC1 from SQSTM1, suggesting an intrinsic directionality in the process of autophagosome formation. Ultimately, our study reveals how the interplay of SQSTM1 and RB1CC1 couples cargo condensation to autophagosome formation.

Keywords: Atg8; ULK1; aggrephagy; autophagosome; autophagy; cargo receptor; phase separation; protein quality control

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2019.1615306