The ubiquitin ligase UBR5 suppresses proteostasis collapse in immortal pluripotent stem cells and Huntington’s disease models
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ABSTRACT: Pluripotent stem cells undergo unlimited self-renewal while maintaining their potential to differentiate into post-mitotic cells with an intact proteome, a capacity that demands a highly induced proteostasis network. As such, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) suppress the aggregation of polyQ-expanded huntingtin (HTT), the mutant protein underlying Huntington’s disease (HD). Here we show that proteasome activity determines HTT levels, preventing the accumulation of polyQ-expanded aggregates in iPSCs from HD patients (HD-iPSCs). iPSCs exhibit intrinsic high levels of UBR5, an E3 ubiquitin ligase that we find required for proteasomal degradation of both normal and mutant HTT. When UBR5 fails to monitor HTT proteostasis, the concomitant up-regulation of HTT expression particularly results in polyQ-expanded aggregation in HD-iPSCs. Moreover, UBR5 knockdown hastens protein aggregation and neurotoxicity in polyQ-expanded invertebrate models. Notably, ectopic expression of UBR5 is sufficient to induce polyubiquitination and degradation of mutant HTT, reducing polyQ-expanded aggregates in HD cell models. However, UBR5 is dispensable for the proteostasis of other aggregation-prone proteins linked with Machado-Joseph disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in iPSCs. Besides its role in HTT regulation, we find that intrinsic high levels of UBR5 also determine the global proteostatic ability of iPSCs preventing aggresome formation, suggesting a role in the control of misfolded proteins ensued from normal metabolism. Thus, our findings indicate UBR5 as a central component of super-vigilant proteostasis of iPSCs with the potential to correct proteostatic deficiencies in HD.
INSTRUMENT(S): LTQ Orbitrap
ORGANISM(S): Homo Sapiens (human)
TISSUE(S): Cell Culture, Kidney
SUBMITTER: David Vilchez
LAB HEAD: David Vilchez
PROVIDER: PXD009803 | Pride | 2018-06-14
REPOSITORIES: Pride
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