Most, if not all, cell types and tissues display several aspects of polarization. In addition to the ubiquitous epithelial cell polarity along the apical-basolateral axis, many epithelial tissues and ...organs are also polarized within the plane of the epithelium. This is generally referred to as planar cell polarity (PCP; or historically, tissue polarity). Genetic screens in Drosophila pioneered the discovery of core PCP factors, and subsequent work in vertebrates has established that the respective pathways are evolutionarily conserved. PCP is not restricted only to epithelial tissues but is also found in mesenchymal cells, where it can regulate cell migration and cell intercalation. Moreover, particularly in vertebrates, the conserved core PCP signaling factors have recently been found to be associated with the orientation or formation of cilia. This review discusses new developments in the molecular understanding of PCP establishment in Drosophila and vertebrates; these developments are integrated with new evidence that links PCP signaling to human disease.
U-Net is a generic deep-learning solution for frequently occurring quantification tasks such as cell detection and shape measurements in biomedical image data. We present an ImageJ plugin that ...enables non-machine-learning experts to analyze their data with U-Net on either a local computer or a remote server/cloud service. The plugin comes with pretrained models for single-cell segmentation and allows for U-Net to be adapted to new tasks on the basis of a few annotated samples.
Adaptation to nutrient scarcity involves an orchestrated response of metabolic and signaling pathways to maintain homeostasis. We find that in the fat body of fasting
, lysosomal export of cystine ...coordinates remobilization of internal nutrient stores with reactivation of the growth regulator target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1). Mechanistically, cystine was reduced to cysteine and metabolized to acetyl-coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) by promoting CoA metabolism. In turn, acetyl-CoA retained carbons from alternative amino acids in the form of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates and restricted the availability of building blocks required for growth. This process limited TORC1 reactivation to maintain autophagy and allowed animals to cope with starvation periods. We propose that cysteine metabolism mediates a communication between lysosomes and mitochondria, highlighting how changes in diet divert the fate of an amino acid into a growth suppressive program.
ATP6AP2 (also known as the prorenin receptor) is a type I transmembrane protein that can be cleaved into two fragments in the Golgi apparatus. While in Drosophila ATP6AP2 functions in the planar cell ...polarity (PCP) pathway, recent human genetic studies have suggested that ATP6AP2 could participate in the assembly of the V-ATPase in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Using a yeast model, we show here that the V-ATPase assembly factor Voa1 can functionally be replaced by Drosophila ATP6AP2. This rescue is even more efficient when coexpressing its binding partner ATP6AP1, indicating that these two proteins together fulfill Voa1 functions in higher organisms. Structure-function analyses in both yeast and Drosophila show that proteolytic cleavage is dispensable, while C-terminus-dependent ER retrieval is required for ATP6AP2 function. Accordingly, we demonstrate that both overexpression and lack of ATP6AP2 causes ER stress in Drosophila wing cells and that the induction of ER stress is sufficient to cause PCP phenotypes. In summary, our results suggest that full-length ATP6AP2 contributes to the assembly of the V-ATPase proton pore and that impairment of this function affects ER homeostasis and PCP signaling.
Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling is involved in a variety of kidney diseases. Clinical trials administering mTOR inhibitors to patients with FSGS, a prototypic podocyte disease, led to ...conflicting results, ranging from remission to deterioration of kidney function. Here, we combined complex genetic titration of mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) levels in murine glomerular disease models, pharmacologic studies, and human studies to precisely delineate the role of mTOR in FSGS. mTORC1 target genes were significantly induced in microdissected glomeruli from both patients with FSGS and a murine FSGS model. Furthermore, a mouse model with constitutive mTORC1 activation closely recapitulated human FSGS. Notably, the complete knockout of mTORC1 by induced deletion of both
alleles accelerated the progression of murine FSGS models. However, lowering mTORC1 signaling by deleting just one
allele ameliorated the progression of glomerulosclerosis. Similarly, low-dose treatment with the mTORC1 inhibitor rapamycin efficiently diminished disease progression. Mechanistically, complete pharmacologic inhibition of mTOR in immortalized podocytes shifted the cellular energy metabolism toward reduced rates of oxidative phosphorylation and anaerobic glycolysis, which correlated with increased production of reactive oxygen species. Together, these data suggest that podocyte injury and loss is commonly followed by adaptive mTOR activation. Prolonged mTOR activation, however, results in a metabolic podocyte reprogramming leading to increased cellular stress and dedifferentiation, thus offering a treatment rationale for incomplete mTOR inhibition.
Planar cell polarity (PCP) controls the orientation of cells within tissues and the polarized outgrowth of cellular appendages. So far, six PCP core proteins including the transmembrane proteins ...Frizzled (Fz), Strabismus (Stbm) and Flamingo (Fmi) have been identified. These proteins form asymmetric PCP domains at apical junctions of epithelial cells. Here, we demonstrate that VhaPRR, an accessory subunit of the proton pump V‐ATPase, directly interacts with the protocadherin Fmi through its extracellular domain. It also shows a striking co‐localization with PCP proteins during all pupal wing stages in Drosophila. This localization depends on intact PCP domains. Reversely, VhaPRR is required for stable PCP domains, identifying it as a novel PCP core protein. VhaPRR performs an additional role in vesicular acidification as well as endolysosomal sorting and degradation. Membrane proteins, such as E‐Cadherin and the Notch receptor, accumulate at the surface and in intracellular vesicles of cells mutant for VhaPRR. This trafficking defect is shared by other V‐ATPase subunits. By contrast, the V‐ATPase does not seem to have a direct role in PCP regulation. Together, our results suggest two roles for VhaPRR, one for PCP and another in endosomal trafficking. This dual function establishes VhaPRR as a key factor in epithelial morphogenesis.
In addition to its role in vesicle acidification and sorting, the V‐ATPase regulatory subunit ATP6AP2/VhaPRR is a new core component of the planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway in Drosophila. VhaPRR interacts with PCP protein Flamingo (Fmi) and regulates the asymmetric distribution of PCP components in wing epithelial cells.
HNF4A is a nuclear hormone receptor that binds DNA as an obligate homodimer. While all known human heterozygous mutations are associated with the autosomal-dominant diabetes form MODY1, one ...particular mutation (p.R85W) in the DNA-binding domain (DBD) causes additional renal Fanconi syndrome (FRTS). Here, we find that expression of the conserved fly ortholog dHNF4 harboring the FRTS mutation in Drosophila nephrocytes caused nuclear depletion and cytosolic aggregation of a wild-type dHNF4 reporter protein. While the nuclear depletion led to mitochondrial defects and lipid droplet accumulation, the cytosolic aggregates triggered the expansion of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), autophagy, and eventually cell death. The latter effects could be fully rescued by preventing nuclear export through interfering with serine phosphorylation in the DBD. Our data describe a genomic and a non-genomic mechanism for FRTS in HNF4A-associated MODY1 with important implications for the renal proximal tubule and the regulation of other nuclear hormone receptors.
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•HNF4 controls lipid metabolism in Drosophila nephrocytes•The kidney disease mutation R85W shows dominant-negative effects in nephrocytes•Dephosphorylation at S87 prevents the dominant-negative effects•R85W mutation causes mitochondrial dysfunction in reprogrammed renal epithelial cells
Mutations in HNF4A cause the autosomal-dominant maturity-onset diabetes of the young type 1 (MODY1). One particular mutation in the DNA-binding domain, p.R85W, causes additional kidney defects. Using Drosophila nephrocytes as a model, Marchesin et al. show that this mutation causes lipid metabolism defects and mitochondrial dysfunction in a dominant-negative manner.
Cystic renal diseases are caused by mutations of proteins that share a unique subcellular localization: the primary cilium of tubular epithelial cells. Mutations of the ciliary protein inversin cause ...nephronophthisis type II, an autosomal recessive cystic kidney disease characterized by extensive renal cysts, situs inversus and renal failure. Here we report that inversin acts as a molecular switch between different Wnt signaling cascades. Inversin inhibits the canonical Wnt pathway by targeting cytoplasmic dishevelled (Dsh or Dvl1) for degradation; concomitantly, it is required for convergent extension movements in gastrulating Xenopus laevis embryos and elongation of animal cap explants, both regulated by noncanonical Wnt signaling. In zebrafish, the structurally related switch molecule diversin ameliorates renal cysts caused by the depletion of inversin, implying that an inhibition of canonical Wnt signaling is required for normal renal development. Fluid flow increases inversin levels in ciliated tubular epithelial cells and seems to regulate this crucial switch between Wnt signaling pathways during renal development.
In diabetic patients, dyslipidemia frequently contributes to organ damage such as diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Dyslipidemia is associated with both excessive deposition of triacylglycerol (TAG) in ...lipid droplets (LD) and lipotoxicity. Yet, it is unclear how these two effects correlate with each other in the kidney and how they are influenced by dietary patterns. By using a diabetes mouse model, we find here that high fat diet enriched in the monounsaturated oleic acid (OA) caused more lipid storage in LDs in renal proximal tubular cells (PTC) but less tubular damage than a corresponding butter diet with the saturated palmitic acid (PA). This effect was particularly evident S2/S3 but not S1 segments of the proximal tubule. Combining transcriptomics, lipidomics and functional studies, we identify endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress as the main cause of PA-induced PTC injury. Mechanistically, ER stress is caused by elevated levels of saturated TAG precursors, reduced LD formation and, consequently, higher membrane order in the ER. Simultaneous addition of OA rescues the cytotoxic effects by normalizing membrane order and by increasing both TAG and LD formation. Our study thus emphasizes the importance of monounsaturated fatty acids for the dietary management of DKD by preventing lipid bilayer stress in the ER and promoting TAG and LD formation in PTCs.
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