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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 281, Issue 40, 30299-30304, October 6, 2006
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From the Life Sciences Institute and Departments of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Received for publication, July 24, 2006
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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-synuclein, which cause neurodegenerative disorders (5-7). Autophagy also functions in tumor suppression, possibly by removing damaged organelles to reduce the production of reactive oxygen species. In addition, autophagy is involved in the host immune response to invasion by certain bacterial and viral pathogens (8, 9).
Genetic analyses reveal that degradative autophagy shares mechanistic components with the biosynthetic cytoplasm to vacuole targeting (Cvt)2 pathway in yeast (10, 11). The Cvt pathway is highly selective and specifically transports at least two hydrolases, Ape1 (aminopeptidase I) and Ams1 (
-mannosidase), to the vacuole after sequestration within double-membrane Cvt vesicles (12-14). The protein components that function in these autophagy-related pathways are named Atg (15). Most of the Atg proteins localize to a perivacuolar site called the preautophagosomal structure (PAS), where the autophago-some and Cvt vesicle are thought to form (16, 17).
In eukaryotic cells, most proteins are either synthesized on soluble ribosomes or on ribosomes attached to the ER. Mis-folded cytosolic and nuclear proteins are typically tagged with ubiquitin and degraded via the proteasome (18, 19). The accumulation of misfolded proteins in the ER induces the unfolded protein response (UPR), which results in the expression of chaperones and other proteins that act as folding catalysts (20). Several studies have reported a linkage between autophagy and ER function. For example, the early secretory pathway is required for autophagy, possibly supplying membrane for auto-phagosome formation (21-23). Moreover, it was shown that fragmented ER membrane structures are transported to the vacuole within autophagosomes under starvation conditions; however, no relationship has been described between autophagy and ER stress (24). In this study, we show that ER stress in yeast cells induces an autophagic response.
| EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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::Kan), UNY102 (SEY6210 TAP-Atg1), and UNY104 (UNY102 atg13
::LEU2) were generated through standard molecular genetics, using a PCR-based procedure. Yeast strains were grown or incubated in media as described previously (28). For induction of ER stress, cells were incubated in SMD medium (synthetic medium containing 0.67% yeast nitrogen base with auxotrophic amino acids and 2% glucose) containing 3 mM dithiothreitol (DTT) or 2 µg/ml tunicamycin (TM) as described previously (29, 30). All chemical reagents were from Sigma unless otherwise indicated. ImmunoblottingYeast cells were grown in SMD medium at 30 °C to A600 = 0.5, and either TM or DTT was added to each culture to induce ER stress. For starvation conditions, cells were cultured in SD-N medium (starvation medium containing 0.17% yeast nitrogen base without amino acids and 2% glucose). At the indicated times, cells were collected, and proteins were precipitated by the addition of trichloroacetic acid. Protein extracts were subjected to SDS-PAGE, followed by immunoblotting with anti-Atg8 (31), anti-Pgk1 (a generous gift from Dr. Jeremy Thorner (University of California, Berkeley)), anti-Kar2 (a generous gift from Dr. Jeffrey L. Brodsky, University of Pitts-burgh, PA), anti-Ape1 (13) or anti-Atg1 antiserum (33), or anti-GFP antibodies (Covance Research Products, Berkeley, CA).
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Atg1 Kinase AssayAn in vitro phosphorylation assay using TAP-tagged Atg1 was performed as described previously (34).
Protein Incorporation AssayYeast cells were incubated with or without either TM, DTT, or CCCP (100 µM) at 30 °C for 4 h. Cells were incubated at 30 °C in SMD medium with 1.0 µCi of [35S]methionine. At each time point, cells were collected, and proteins were precipitated with trichloroacetic acid, resuspended in 0.1 N NaOH, and incubated at 40 °C for 10 min. The radioactivity was measured in a liquid scintillation counter (Beckman Coulter LS6500, Fullerton, CA).
| RESULTS |
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In contrast to wild-type cells, GFP-Atg8 is not located at the PAS but is diffusely localized throughout the cytosol in vegetative conditions in the absence of the Cvt pathway-specific component Atg11, whereas PAS localization is restored, followed by transport to the vacuole, under starvation conditions reflecting an induction of autophagy (28) (Fig. 1A). We took advantage of the Cvt pathway-specific defect of the atg11
mutant to monitor the effect of DTT and TM. Treatment with DTT or TM in rich medium elicited localization of GFP-Atg8 at the PAS; essentially the same number of cells displayed punctate dots as seen with the wild-type strain (45% with DTT treatment and 46% with TM), suggesting that ER stress resulted in autophagic induction. Localization of GFP-Atg8 at the PAS was confirmed by the observation that TM- and DTT-induced GFP-Atg8 colocalized with RFP-Ape1, which is a PAS marker (data not shown). To check whether the PAS localization of GFP-Atg8 was dependent on the autophagic process under ER stress conditions, we examined GFP-Atg8 localization in atg12
cells. GFP-Atg8 did not show PAS localization in either growing or starvation conditions in the atg12
strain, as reported previously (17, 35). Similarly, in atg12
cells, treatment with TM or DTT was unable to cause localization of GFP-Atg8 to the PAS (Fig. 1A). These results suggested that PAS formation induced under ER stress was dependent on the normal autophagic machinery.
We extended our analysis by examining Atg8 conjugated to phosphatidylethanolamine (Atg8-PE) under ER stress conditions. When autophagy is induced in response to nutrient starvation, higher levels of Atg8/Atg8-PE are observed relative to growing conditions (31, 36). In nutrient-rich medium, the addition of either DTT or TM resulted in increased amounts of Atg8-PE as well as nonlipidated Atg8 at levels higher than those in starvation conditions (Fig. 1B). In contrast to the result in wild-type cells, Atg8-PE was not detected either in starvation conditions or in nutrient-rich conditions following treatment with DTT or TM in atg12
cells, although the expression level of Atg8 was increased significantly. This result was consistent with the microscopy data and suggested that ER stress induced autophagy in an Atg protein-dependent manner.
Next, we confirmed that treatment with DTT and TM induced the UPR by monitoring the level of Kar2, an ER chaperone, which is induced by the UPR (37). As expected, Kar2 was induced following treatment with either DTT or TM (Fig. 2A). In contrast, Kar2 was not substantially induced in starvation conditions that induce autophagy in the absence of these ER stressors. These results indicate that the UPR was induced under our experimental conditions of ER stress. We then extended our analysis by examining the transport of autophagosomes into the vacuole under conditions of ER stress. As a marker protein, we monitored GFP-Atg8-PE (referred to hereafter as GFP-Atg8), which remains associated with the inner autophagosome membrane and is transported into the vacuole concomitantly with the contents of the autophagic body (36, 38). After lysis of the auto-phagic body by vacuolar hydrolases, the GFP moiety is proteolytically cleaved from GFP-Atg8 and is relatively stable in the vacuolar lumen, whereas Atg8 is degraded. Accordingly, detecting free GFP through immunoblot can follow the delivery of autophagosomes to the vacuole. In wild-type cells, free GFP was quickly generated by starvation-induced autophagy (SD-N; Fig. 2B). This processing was blocked in an autophagy-defective atg1
strain, verifying its dependence on the autophagic machinery. A greatly reduced level of processing was seen under growing conditions (SMD). Cells that were treated with DTT or TM for 6 h showed the appearance of free GFP even in nutrient-rich conditions; however, the generation of free GFP was considerably lower and delayed relative to starvation conditions. atg1
cells did not show processed GFP following treatment with DTT or TM (Fig. 2B), although analysis of Kar2 indicated that the UPR was induced in the atg1
strain at a level similar to that seen in the wild-type strain (data not shown). These results indicated that processing of GFP-Atg8 occurred in an autophagy-dependent manner under conditions of ER stress.
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mutant. Without Vac8, prApe1 maturation is blocked in growing conditions, whereas maturation is normal in starvation conditions (39). When vac8
cells were treated with DTT or TM, prApe1 maturation was observed, although it was again less efficient than that observed in starvation conditions (Fig. 2C). In contrast, neither starvation nor ER stress caused prApe1 processing in atg1
cells. Again, we observed induction of the UPR in both vac8
and atg1
cells based on analysis of Kar2 under these conditions (data not shown). This result was consistent with that observed with GFP-Atg8 processing. We confirmed that atg1
cells grew as well as the wild-type cells after the drug treatment, indicating that the defect of atg1
cells for GFP-Atg8 processing and prApe1 maturation was not due to loss of viability under ER stress conditions (data not shown). Taken together, we conclude that autophagy was induced in response to ER stress.
To gain a further mechanistic understanding of the induction process, we examined Atg1 kinase activity. In nutrient-rich conditions or in the absence of Atg13, Atg1 kinase has lower activity in vitro (40). Starvation or treatment with the autophagy inducer rapamycin results in increased Atg1 kinase activity. When purified from wild-type cells treated with rapamycin, TAP-tagged Atg1 was able to highly phosphorylate the myelin basic protein substrate compared with TAP-Atg1 isolated in the absence of rapamycin (Fig. 3A). In contrast, the phosphorylation of myelin basic protein was extremely reduced when incubated with TAP-Atg1 from atg13
cells, even when the cells had been treated with rapamycin, as reported previously (40). When cells were treated with DTT or TM, TAP-Atg1 displayed a high level of kinase activity based on phosphorylation of myelin basic protein, similar to the result seen with rapamycin treatment. The increased kinase activity of Atg1 further suggested that autophagy was induced during ER stress.
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| DISCUSSION |
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We took advantage of the defect in PAS assembly in atg11
cells and monitored induction of autophagy by following GFP-Atg8 localization in response to ER stress. Atg8 is conserved from yeast to mammalian cells and is commonly used as a marker for the PAS and the autophagosome (17). Unlike the situation in normal growing conditions, ER stress facilitated PAS formation in atg11
cells in an Atg protein-dependent manner (Fig. 1A). Next, we biochemically monitored the delivery of autophagosomes to the vacuole using two established marker proteins, GFP-Atg8 and Ape1. The delivery of autophagosomes, measured by the formation of free GFP or maturation of precursor Ape1, was observed in response to ER stress, although the level of the delivery was less efficient than that seen under starvation conditions (Fig. 2). Finally, Atg1 purified from cells under ER stress conditions showed essentially the same increase in kinase activity as that from cells treated with the autophagy inducer rapamycin (Fig. 3A).
It remains to be determined whether ER stress affects Tor kinase or whether it acts indirectly on a downstream component or even on a different kinase, such as protein kinase A, that might also be involved in the Atg1 signaling pathway (43). To eliminate the possibility that DTT or TM induced autophagy indirectly by generating a starvation response, we monitored amino acid uptake of cells treated with these ER stressors. DTT-treated cells displayed essentially the same level of uptake and incorporation of radioactive methionine as nontreated cells, suggesting that these cells did not experience starvation conditions due to inhibition of the biosynthesis of plasma membrane permeases. Similarly, there was apparently no significant interference with the cell's translational machinery. The uptake and incorporation of methionine in TM-treated cells was less efficient, being about 70% of that seen with untreated or DTT-treated cells (Fig. 3B); however, this level was well above that seen with CCCP treatment.
Ire1 is an ER membrane protein that senses accumulation of unfolded proteins in the ER lumen. Active Ire1 splices HAC1 mRNA, and the spliced mRNA, which encodes a transcription factor, is translated into a functional protein. The active Hac1 protein induces the expression of genes encoding proteins involved in the UPR (44). We observed that under ER stress conditions, depletion of either Ire1 or Hac1 blocked autophagy based on GFP-Atg8 processing and prApe1 maturation; however, both ire1
and hac1
cells also showed low viability under ER stress conditions.3 Thus, it was not possible to determine whether the Ire1-Hac1 signaling pathway is involved in induction of autophagy under ER stress conditions.
The ER-associated degradation (ERAD) pathway is the primary degradation mechanism for handling misfolded proteins that cause ER stress (19). During ERAD, unfolded proteins that accumulate in the ER lumen are exported (dislocated) into the cytosol through the translocon channel and then degraded by the proteasome. We speculate that autophagy functions as backup to ERAD if degradative substrates overwhelm the ERAD capacity (30, 32). It has been known that there is a regulatory link between ERAD and the UPR (30). One of the next questions to address is how autophagy is associated with these two pathways under starvation and other stress conditions.
In summary, our current report shows that autophagy is induced by ER stress. Previous studies have shown that stress caused by accumulation of cytosolic protein aggregates can mediate autophagy in mammalian cells (6, 7). To our knowledge, this is the first report of ER stress-induced autophagy. Further study will be needed to gain additional details about the regulatory association of this type of autophagy with the UPR and ERAD.
| FOOTNOTES |
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1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Life Sciences Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2216. Tel.: 734-615-6556; Fax: 734-763-6492; E-mail: klionsky{at}umich.edu.
2 The abbreviations used are: Cvt, cytoplasm to vacuole targeting; Atg8-PE, Atg8 conjugated to phosphatidylethanolamine; CCCP, carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone; ER, endoplasmic reticulum; ERAD, ER-associated degradation; PAS, pre-autophagosomal structure; TM, tunicamycin; UPR, unfolded protein response; prApe1, precursor Ape1; GFP, green fluorescent protein. ![]()
3 T. Yorimitsu, U. Nair, Z. Yang, and D. J. Klionsky, unpublished data. ![]()
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| REFERENCES |
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