scholarly journals DRAM-3 modulates autophagy and promotes cell survival in the absence of glucose

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 1714-1726 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Mrschtik ◽  
J O'Prey ◽  
L Y Lao ◽  
J S Long ◽  
F Beaumatin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Survival ◽  
Membrane Trafficking ◽  
Clonogenic Survival ◽  
Autophagic Flux ◽  
Normal Tissues ◽  
Atg Proteins ◽  
Dna Damaging Agents ◽  
Evolutionarily Conserved ◽  
Starvation Conditions

Abstract Macroautophagy is a membrane-trafficking process that delivers cytoplasmic constituents to lysosomes for degradation. The process operates under basal conditions as a mechanism to turnover damaged or misfolded proteins and organelles. As a result, it has a major role in preserving cellular integrity and viability. In addition to this basal function, macroautophagy can also be modulated in response to various forms of cellular stress, and the rate and cargoes of macroautophagy can be tailored to facilitate appropriate cellular responses in particular situations. The macroautophagy machinery is regulated by a group of evolutionarily conserved autophagy-related (ATG) proteins and by several other autophagy regulators, which either have tissue-restricted expression or operate in specific contexts. We report here the characterization of a novel autophagy regulator that we have termed DRAM-3 due to its significant homology to damage-regulated autophagy modulator (DRAM-1). DRAM-3 is expressed in a broad spectrum of normal tissues and tumor cells, but different from DRAM-1, DRAM-3 is not induced by p53 or DNA-damaging agents. Immunofluorescence studies revealed that DRAM-3 localizes to lysosomes/autolysosomes, endosomes and the plasma membrane, but not the endoplasmic reticulum, phagophores, autophagosomes or Golgi, indicating significant overlap with DRAM-1 localization and with organelles associated with macroautophagy. In this regard, we further proceed to show that DRAM-3 expression causes accumulation of autophagosomes under basal conditions and enhances autophagic flux. Reciprocally, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated disruption of DRAM-3 impairs autophagic flux confirming that DRAM-3 is a modulator of macroautophagy. As macroautophagy can be cytoprotective under starvation conditions, we also tested whether DRAM-3 could promote survival on nutrient deprivation. This revealed that DRAM-3 can repress cell death and promote long-term clonogenic survival of cells grown in the absence of glucose. Interestingly, however, this effect is macroautophagy-independent. In summary, these findings constitute the primary characterization of DRAM-3 as a modulator of both macroautophagy and cell survival under starvation conditions.

scholarly journals Mammalian Atg2 proteins are essential for autophagosome formation and important for regulation of size and distribution of lipid droplets

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 896-909 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anoop Kumar G. Velikkakath ◽  
Taki Nishimura ◽  
Eiko Oita ◽  
Naotada Ishihara ◽  
Noboru Mizushima
Keyword(s):  
Lipid Droplet ◽  
Lipid Droplets ◽  
Autophagic Flux ◽  
Autophagosome Formation ◽  
Independent Manner ◽  
Intracellular Degradation ◽  
Atg Proteins ◽  
High Conservation ◽  
Droplet Morphology

Macroautophagy is an intracellular degradation system by which cytoplasmic materials are enclosed by the autophagosome and delivered to the lysosome. Autophagosome formation is considered to take place on the endoplasmic reticulum and involves functions of autophagy-related (Atg) proteins. Here, we report the identification and characterization of mammalian Atg2 homologues Atg2A and Atg2B. Simultaneous silencing of Atg2A and Atg2B causes a block in autophagic flux and accumulation of unclosed autophagic structures containing most Atg proteins. Atg2A localizes on the autophagic membrane, as well as on the surface of lipid droplets. The Atg2A region containing amino acids 1723–1829, which shows relatively high conservation among species, is required for localization to both the autophagic membrane and lipid droplet and is also essential for autophagy. Depletion of both Atg2A and Atg2B causes clustering of enlarged lipid droplets in an autophagy-independent manner. These data suggest that mammalian Atg2 proteins function both in autophagosome formation and regulation of lipid droplet morphology and dispersion.

scholarly journals Autophagy is required for lipid homeostasis during dark-induced senescence in Arabidopsis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica AS Barros ◽  
Sahar Magen ◽  
Taly Lapidot-Cohen ◽  
Leah Rosental ◽  
Yariv Brotman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽  
Lipid Metabolism ◽  
Lipid Droplets ◽  
Metabolic Reprogramming ◽  
Eukaryotic Cells ◽  
Lipid Homeostasis ◽  
Evolutionarily Conserved ◽  
Altered Lipid ◽  
Starvation Conditions

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that mediates the degradation of cytoplasmic components in eukaryotic cells. In plants, autophagy has been extensively associated with the recycling of proteins during carbon starvation conditions. Even tough lipids constitute a significant energy reserve, our understanding of the function of autophagy in the management of cell lipid reserves and components remains fragmented. To further investigate the significance of autophagy in lipid metabolism, we performed an extensive lipidomic characterization of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) autophagy mutants (atg) submitted to dark-induced senescence conditions. Our results revealed an altered lipid profile in atg mutants, suggesting that autophagy affects the homeostasis of multiple lipid components under dark-induced senescence. The acute degradation of chloroplast lipids coupled with the differential accumulation of triacylglycerols (TAGs) and plastoglobuli-related transcripts indicates an alternative metabolic reprogramming towards lipid storage in atg mutants. The imbalance of lipid metabolism compromises the production of cytosolic lipid droplets and the regulation of peroxisomal lipid oxidation pathways in atg mutants.

scholarly journals Characterization of three TRAPPC11 variants suggests a critical role for the extreme carboxy terminus of the protein

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav P. Milev ◽  
Daniela Stanga ◽  
Anne Schänzer ◽  
Andrés Nascimento ◽  
Djenann Saint-Dic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Trafficking ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Missense Variant ◽  
Compound Heterozygous ◽  
Autophagic Flux ◽  
Carboxy Terminus ◽  
Trafficking Defects ◽  
Carboxy Terminal ◽  
Foie Gras

AbstractTRAPPC11 was identified as a component of the TRAPP III complex that functions in membrane trafficking and autophagy. Variants in TRAPPC11 have been reported to be associated with a broad spectrum of phenotypes but all affected individuals display muscular pathology. Identifying additional variants will further our understanding of the clinical spectrum of phenotypes and will reveal regions of the protein critical for its functions. Here we report three individuals from unrelated families that have bi-allellic TRAPPC11 variants. Subject 1 harbors a compound heterozygous variant (c.1287 + 5G > A and c.3379_3380insT). The former variant results in a partial deletion of the foie gras domain (p.Ala372_Ser429del), while the latter variant results in a frame-shift and extension at the carboxy terminus (p.Asp1127Valfs*47). Subjects 2 and 3 both harbour a homozygous missense variant (c.2938G > A; p.Gly980Arg). Fibroblasts from all three subjects displayed membrane trafficking defects manifested as delayed endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-to-Golgi transport and/or a delay in protein exit from the Golgi. All three individuals also show a defect in glycosylation of an ER-resident glycoprotein. However, only the compound heterozygous subject displayed an autophagic flux defect. Collectively, our characterization of these individuals with bi-allelic TRAPPC11 variants highlights the functional importance of the carboxy-terminal portion of the protein.

scholarly journals Insights on autophagosome–lysosome tethering from structural and biochemical characterization of human autophagy factor EPG5

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung-Eun Nam ◽  
Yiu Wing Sunny Cheung ◽  
Thanh Ngoc Nguyen ◽  
Michael Gong ◽  
Samuel Chan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biochemical Characterization ◽  
Late Endosome ◽  
Multisystem Disorder ◽  
Cytoplasmic Material ◽  
Disease Mutations ◽  
Evolutionarily Conserved ◽  
Overall Stability ◽  
Transport Vesicle ◽  
Molecular Effects

AbstractPivotal to the maintenance of cellular homeostasis, macroautophagy (hereafter autophagy) is an evolutionarily conserved degradation system that involves sequestration of cytoplasmic material into the double-membrane autophagosome and targeting of this transport vesicle to the lysosome/late endosome for degradation. EPG5 is a large-sized metazoan protein proposed to serve as a tethering factor to enforce autophagosome–lysosome/late endosome fusion specificity, and its deficiency causes a severe multisystem disorder known as Vici syndrome. Here, we show that human EPG5 (hEPG5) adopts an extended “shepherd’s staff” architecture. We find that hEPG5 binds preferentially to members of the GABARAP subfamily of human ATG8 proteins critical to autophagosome–lysosome fusion. The hEPG5–GABARAPs interaction, which is mediated by tandem LIR motifs that exhibit differential affinities, is required for hEPG5 recruitment to mitochondria during PINK1/Parkin-dependent mitophagy. Lastly, we find that the Vici syndrome mutation Gln336Arg does not affect the hEPG5’s overall stability nor its ability to engage in interaction with the GABARAPs. Collectively, results from our studies reveal new insights into how hEPG5 recognizes mature autophagosome and establish a platform for examining the molecular effects of Vici syndrome disease mutations on hEPG5.

scholarly journals Structural catalog of core Atg proteins opens new era of autophagy research

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuaki Matoba ◽  
Nobuo N Noda
Keyword(s):  
De Novo ◽  
Structural Information ◽  
Membrane Dynamics ◽  
Autophagosome Formation ◽  
New Era ◽  
Intracellular Degradation ◽  
Atg Proteins ◽  
Biological Studies ◽  
Evolutionarily Conserved ◽  
Biological Methods

Summary Autophagy, which is an evolutionarily conserved intracellular degradation system, involves de novo generation of autophagosomes that sequester and deliver diverse cytoplasmic materials to the lysosome for degradation. Autophagosome formation is mediated by approximately 20 core autophagy-related (Atg) proteins, which collaborate to mediate complicated membrane dynamics during autophagy. To elucidate the molecular functions of these Atg proteins in autophagosome formation, many researchers have tried to determine the structures of Atg proteins by using various structural biological methods. Although not sufficient, the basic structural catalog of all core Atg proteins was established. In this review article, we summarize structural biological studies of core Atg proteins, with an emphasis on recently unveiled structures, and describe the mechanistic breakthroughs in autophagy research that have derived from new structural information.

scholarly journals Cleavage activates Dispatched for Sonic Hedgehog ligand release

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel P Stewart ◽  
Suresh Marada ◽  
William J Bodeen ◽  
Ashley Truong ◽  
Sadie Miki Sakurada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sonic Hedgehog ◽  
Membrane Trafficking ◽  
Developmental Disorders ◽  
Transmembrane Protein ◽  
Regulatory Mechanisms ◽  
Extracellular Loop ◽  
Site Mutation ◽  
Evolutionarily Conserved ◽  
Processing Site

Hedgehog ligands activate an evolutionarily conserved signaling pathway that provides instructional cues during tissue morphogenesis, and when corrupted, contributes to developmental disorders and cancer. The transmembrane protein Dispatched is an essential component of the machinery that deploys Hedgehog family ligands from producing cells, and is absolutely required for signaling to long-range targets. Despite this crucial role, regulatory mechanisms controlling Dispatched activity remain largely undefined. Herein, we reveal vertebrate Dispatched is activated by proprotein convertase-mediated cleavage at a conserved processing site in its first extracellular loop. Dispatched processing occurs at the cell surface to instruct its membrane re-localization in polarized epithelial cells. Cleavage site mutation alters Dispatched membrane trafficking and reduces ligand release, leading to compromised pathway activity in vivo. As such, convertase-mediated cleavage is required for Dispatched maturation and functional competency in Hedgehog ligand-producing cells.

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