Dataset Information

Stress Kinase GCN2 Controls the Proliferative Fitness and Trafficking of Cytotoxic T Cells Independent of Environmental Amino Acid Sensing.

ABSTRACT: GCN2 is one of four "stress kinases" that block translation by phosphorylating eIF2?. GCN2 is thought to bind uncharged tRNAs to "sense" amino acid availability. In mammals, myeloid cells expressing indoleamine dioxygenases locally deplete tryptophan, which is detected by GCN2 in T cells to cause proliferative arrest. GCN2-deficient T cells were reported to ectopically enter the cell cycle when tryptophan was limiting. Using GCN2-deficient strains crossed to T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic backgrounds, we found GCN2 is essential for induction of stress target genes such as CHOP. However, GCN2-deficient CD8+ T cells fail to proliferate in limiting tryptophan, arginine, leucine, lysine, or asparagine, the opposite of what previous studies concluded. In vitro and in vivo proliferation experiments show that GCN2-deficient CD8+ T cells have T cell-intrinsic proliferative and trafficking defects not observed in CD4+ T cells. Thus, GCN2 is required for normal cytotoxic T cell function.

SUBMITTER: Van de Velde LA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5131879 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Stress Kinase GCN2 Controls the Proliferative Fitness and Trafficking of Cytotoxic T Cells Independent of Environmental Amino Acid Sensing.

Van de Velde Lee-Ann LA Guo Xi-Zhi J XJ Barbaric Lidija L Smith Amber M AM Oguin Thomas H TH Thomas Paul G PG Murray Peter J PJ

Cell reports 20161101 9

GCN2 is one of four "stress kinases" that block translation by phosphorylating eIF2α. GCN2 is thought to bind uncharged tRNAs to "sense" amino acid availability. In mammals, myeloid cells expressing indoleamine dioxygenases locally deplete tryptophan, which is detected by GCN2 in T cells to cause proliferative arrest. GCN2-deficient T cells were reported to ectopically enter the cell cycle when tryptophan was limiting. Using GCN2-deficient strains crossed to T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic back ...[more]

PMID: 27880901

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Project description:In a variety of species, reduced food intake, and in particular protein or amino acid (AA) restriction, extends lifespan and healthspan. However, the underlying epigenetic and/or transcriptional mechanisms are largely unknown, and dissection of specific pathways in cultured cells may contribute to filling this gap. We have previously shown that, in mammalian cells, deprivation of essential AAs (methionine/cysteine or tyrosine) leads to the transcriptional reactivation of integrated silenced transgenes, including plasmid and retroviral vectors and latent HIV-1 provirus, by a process involving epigenetic chromatic remodeling and histone acetylation. Here we show that the deprivation of methionine/cysteine also leads to the transcriptional upregulation of endogenous retroviruses, suggesting that essential AA starvation affects the expression not only of exogenous non-native DNA sequences, but also of endogenous anciently-integrated and silenced parasitic elements of the genome. Moreover, we show that the transgene reactivation response is highly conserved in different mammalian cell types, and it is reproducible with deprivation of most essential AAs. The General Control Non-derepressible 2 (GCN2) kinase and the downstream integrated stress response represent the best candidates mediating this process; however, by pharmacological approaches, RNA interference and genomic editing, we demonstrate that they are not implicated. Instead, the response requires MEK/ERK and/or JNK activity and is reproduced by ribosomal inhibitors, suggesting that it is triggered by a novel nutrient-sensing and signaling pathway, initiated by translational block at the ribosome, and independent of mTOR and GCN2. Overall, these findings point to a general transcriptional response to essential AA deprivation, which affects the expression of non-native genomic sequences, with relevant implications for the epigenetic/transcriptional effects of AA restriction in health and disease.

Dataset Information

Stress Kinase GCN2 Controls the Proliferative Fitness and Trafficking of Cytotoxic T Cells Independent of Environmental Amino Acid Sensing.

Publications

Stress Kinase GCN2 Controls the Proliferative Fitness and Trafficking of Cytotoxic T Cells Independent of Environmental Amino Acid Sensing.

Similar Datasets

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