The eukaryotic ubiquitin-proteasome system is responsible for most aspects of regulatory and quality-control protein degradation in cells. Its substrates, which are usually modified by polymers of ...ubiquitin, are ultimately degraded by the 26S proteasome. This 2.6-MDa protein complex is separated into a barrel-shaped proteolytic 20S core particle (CP) of 28 subunits capped on one or both ends by a 19S regulatory particle (RP) comprising at least 19 subunits. The RP coordinates substrate recognition, removal of substrate polyubiquitin chains, and substrate unfolding and translocation into the CP for degradation. Although many atomic structures of the CP have been determined, the RP has resisted high-resolution analysis. Recently, however, a combination of cryo-electron microscopy, biochemical analysis, and crystal structure determination of several RP subunits has yielded a near-atomic-resolution view of much of the complex. Major new insights into chaperone-assisted proteasome assembly have also recently emerged. Here we review these novel findings.
The intrinsically disordered yeast protein Sem1 (DSS1 in mammals) participates in multiple protein complexes, including the proteasome, but its role(s) within these complexes is uncertain. We report ...that Sem1 enforces the ordered incorporation of subunits Rpn3 and Rpn7 into the assembling proteasome lid. Sem1 uses conserved acidic segments separated by a flexible linker to grasp Rpn3 and Rpn7. The same segments are used for protein binding in other complexes, but in the proteasome lid they are uniquely deployed for recognizing separate polypeptides. We engineered TEV protease-cleavage sites into Sem1 to show that the tethering function of Sem1 is important for the biogenesis and integrity of the Rpn3-Sem1-Rpn7 ternary complex but becomes dispensable once the ternary complex incorporates into larger lid precursors. Thus, although Sem1 is a stoichiometric component of the mature proteasome, it has a distinct, chaperone-like function specific to early stages of proteasome assembly.
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•Sem1 enforces ordered entry of an Rpn3-Sem1-Rpn7 complex into the proteasome lid•Sem1 uses two flexibly linked acidic elements to tether Rpn3 and Rpn7 together•This chaperone-like activity is dispensable in later assembly intermediates•Sem1 exploits similar binding elements differently in different complexes
Sem1, an unstructured protein, binds TREX-2, BRCA2, and the proteasome lid subcomplex. Tomko and Hochstrasser find that Sem1 functions like a chaperone during lid biogenesis. Conserved binding sites separated by a flexible linker tether two lid subunits together until their interface is reinforced by additional subunits. These same elements recognize TREX-2 and BRCA2, but in different ways.
The 26S proteasome, the central eukaryotic protease, comprises a core particle capped by a 19S regulatory particle (RP). The RP is divisible into base and lid subcomplexes. Lid biogenesis and ...incorporation into the RP remain poorly understood. We report several lid intermediates, including the free Rpn12 subunit and a lid particle (LP) containing the remaining eight subunits, LP2. Rpn12 binds LP2 in vitro, and each requires the other for assembly into 26S proteasomes. Stable Rpn12 incorporation depends on all other lid subunits, indicating that Rpn12 distinguishes LP2 from smaller lid subcomplexes. The highly conserved C terminus of Rpn12 bridges the lid and base, mediating both stable binding to LP2 and lid-base joining. Our data suggest a hierarchical assembly mechanism where Rpn12 binds LP2 only upon correct assembly of all other lid subunits, and the Rpn12 tail then helps drive lid-base joining. Rpn12 incorporation thus links proper lid assembly to subsequent assembly steps.
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► Several proteasomal regulatory particle (RP) lid assembly intermediates identified ► Completion of lid assembly and lid-base attachment reconstituted in vitro ► Rpn12 incorporation completes lid assembly and promotes further RP assembly steps ► The conserved Rpn12 C terminus lies at the lid-base interface based on crosslinking
The inhibitory mechanism of an intrinsically disordered proteasome inhibitor identified over 30 years ago has finally been revealed by cryo-electron microscopy by Hsu et al. in a recent report in the ...Journal of Biological Chemistry. The structure, coupled with biochemical and cell-based experiments, resolves lingering questions about how the inhibitor achieves multisite inhibition of proteasomal protease activity, while raising several exciting new questions on the nature of proteasome subpopulations in the process.
microRNAs (miRNA) are small noncoding RNAs that participate in diverse biological processes by suppressing target gene expression. Altered expression of miR-21 has been reported in cancer. To gain ...insights into its potential role in tumorigenesis, we generated miR-21 knockout colon cancer cells through gene targeting. Unbiased microarray analysis combined with bioinformatics identified cell cycle regulator Cdc25A as a miR-21 target. miR-21 suppressed Cdc25A expression through a defined sequence in its 3'-untranslated region. We found that miR-21 is induced by serum starvation and DNA damage, negatively regulates G(1)-S transition, and participates in DNA damage-induced G(2)-M checkpoint through down-regulation of Cdc25A. In contrast, miR-21 deficiency did not affect apoptosis induced by a variety of commonly used anticancer agents or cell proliferation under normal cell culture conditions. Furthermore, miR-21 was found to be underexpressed in a subset of Cdc25A-overexpressing colon cancers. Our data show a role of miR-21 in modulating cell cycle progression following stress, providing a novel mechanism of Cdc25A regulation and a potential explanation of miR-21 in tumorigenesis.
The proteasome is the central protease for intracellular protein breakdown. Coordinated binding and hydrolysis of ATP by the six proteasomal ATPase subunits induces conformational changes that drive ...the unfolding and translocation of substrates into the proteolytic 20S core particle for degradation. Here, we combine genetic and biochemical approaches with cryo-electron microscopy and integrative modeling to dissect the relationship between individual nucleotide binding events and proteasome conformational dynamics. We demonstrate unique impacts of ATP binding by individual ATPases on the proteasome conformational distribution and report two conformational states of the proteasome suggestive of a rotary ATP hydrolysis mechanism. These structures, coupled with functional analyses, reveal key roles for the ATPases Rpt1 and Rpt6 in gating substrate entry into the core particle. This deepened knowledge of proteasome conformational dynamics reveals key elements of intersubunit communication within the proteasome and clarifies the regulation of substrate entry into the proteolytic chamber.
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•Proteasomal ATPases differently control conformational remodeling and activation•Individual ATP-binding events promote gating of the substrate passageway•Substrate access to the proteolytic sites is controlled by Rpt1 and Rpt6 C termini•Conformational states suggest a sequential rotary ATP hydrolysis mechanism
The proteasome must undergo ATP-dependent conformational reorganizations to be activated for substrate degradation. Eisele et al. uncover the roles of individual ATP-binding events in these reorganizations and reveal the molecular mechanism by which a gated pore into the proteolytic chamber is opened.
The accumulation of misfolded proteins is associated with multiple neurodegenerative disorders, but it remains poorly defined how this accumulation causes cytotoxicity. Here, we demonstrate that the ...Cdc48/p97 segregase machinery drives the clearance of ubiquitinated model misfolded protein Huntingtin (Htt103QP) and limits its aggregation. Nuclear ubiquitin ligase San1 acts upstream of Cdc48 to ubiquitinate Htt103QP. Unexpectedly, deletion of SAN1 and/or its cytosolic counterpart UBR1 rescues the toxicity associated with Cdc48 deficiency, suggesting that ubiquitin depletion, rather than compromised proteolysis of misfolded proteins, causes the growth defect in cells with Cdc48 deficiency. Indeed, Cdc48 deficiency leads to elevated protein ubiquitination levels and decreased free ubiquitin, which depends on San1/Ubr1. Furthermore, enhancing free ubiquitin levels rescues the toxicity in various Cdc48 pathway mutants and restores normal turnover of a known Cdc48-independent substrate. Our work highlights a previously unappreciated function for Cdc48 in ensuring the regeneration of monoubiquitin that is critical for normal cellular function.
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•Cdc48 segregase is required for the degradation of misfolded proteins in yeast•Cdc48 deficiency leads to a decreased pool of free ubiquitin that compromises the UPS•San1 and Ubr1 ubiquitinate misfolded proteins, reducing the free ubiquitin pool•Restoring free ubiquitin suppresses the toxicity associated with Cdc48 deficiency
Misfolded protein accumulation causes cytotoxicity, but the mechanism remains poorly understood. Using budding yeast as a model organism, Higgins et al. show that ubiquitination of misfolded proteins depletes free ubiquitin, which compromises ubiquitin-dependent cellular functions and causes cytotoxicity. The Cdc48/p97 segregase antagonizes this cytotoxicity by promoting ubiquitin recycling from misfolded proteins.
Turnover of the 26S proteasome by autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved process that governs cellular proteolytic capacity and eliminates inactive particles. In most organisms, proteasomes are ...located in both the nucleus and cytoplasm. However, the specific autophagy routes for nuclear and cytoplasmic proteasomes are unclear. Here, we investigate the spatial control of autophagic proteasome turnover in budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). We found that nitrogen starvation–induced proteasome autophagy is independent of known nucleophagy pathways but is compromised when nuclear protein export is blocked. Furthermore, via pharmacological tethering of proteasomes to chromatin or the plasma membrane, we provide evidence that nuclear proteasomes at least partially disassemble before autophagic turnover, whereas cytoplasmic proteasomes remain largely intact. A targeted screen of autophagy genes identified a requirement for the conserved sorting nexin Snx4 in the autophagic turnover of proteasomes and several other large multisubunit complexes. We demonstrate that Snx4 cooperates with sorting nexins Snx41 and Snx42 to mediate proteasome turnover and is required for the formation of cytoplasmic proteasome puncta that accumulate when autophagosome formation is blocked. Together, our results support distinct mechanistic paths in the turnover of nuclear versus cytoplasmic proteasomes and point to a critical role for Snx4 in cytoplasmic agglomeration of proteasomes en route to autophagic destruction.
The circadian clock is based on a transcriptional feedback loop with an essential time delay before feedback inhibition. Previous work has shown that PERIOD (PER) proteins generate circadian time ...cues through rhythmic nuclear accumulation of the inhibitor complex and subsequent interaction with the activator complex in the feedback loop. Although this temporal manifestation of the feedback inhibition is the direct consequence of PER’s cytoplasmic trafficking before nuclear entry, how this spatial regulation of the pacemaker affects circadian timing has been largely unexplored. Here we show that circadian rhythms, including wake-sleep cycles, are lengthened and severely unstable if the cytoplasmic trafficking of PER is disrupted by any disease condition that leads to increased congestion in the cytoplasm. Furthermore, we found that the time delay and robustness in the circadian clock are seamlessly generated by delayed and collective phosphorylation of PER molecules, followed by synchronous nuclear entry. These results provide clear mechanistic insight into why circadian and sleep disorders arise in such clinical conditions as metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases and aging, in which the cytoplasm is congested.
Most short-lived eukaryotic proteins are degraded by the proteasome. A proteolytic core particle (CP) capped by regulatory particles (RPs) constitutes the 26S proteasome complex. RP biogenesis ...culminates with the joining of two large subcomplexes, the lid and base. In yeast and mammals, the lid appears to assemble completely before attaching to the base, but how this hierarchical assembly is enforced has remained unclear. Using biochemical reconstitutions, quantitative cross-linking/mass spectrometry, and electron microscopy, we resolve the mechanistic basis for the linkage between lid biogenesis and lid-base joining. Assimilation of the final lid subunit, Rpn12, triggers a large-scale conformational remodeling of the nascent lid that drives RP assembly, in part by relieving steric clash with the base. Surprisingly, this remodeling is triggered by a single Rpn12 α helix. Such assembly-coupled conformational switching is reminiscent of viral particle maturation and may represent a commonly used mechanism to enforce hierarchical assembly in multisubunit complexes.
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•First in vitro reconstitution of RP assembly with completely recombinant components•Electron microscopy and cross-linking reveal massive remodeling of a lid precursor•Remodeling of the lid relieves steric clash with the RP base to promote RP assembly•Lid remodeling can be triggered by a single C-terminal α helix in the Rpn12 subunit
A single alpha helix from the final subunit that incorporates into the proteasomal lid triggers a large-scale conformational switch that enables subsequent assembly of the lid and base, suggesting a general paradigm for hierarchical assembly of macromolecular complexes similar to that of virus particles.
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