The ubiquitin ligase UBR5 suppresses proteostasis collapse in pluripotent stem cells from Huntington's disease patients
Summary
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) undergo unlimited self-renewal while maintaining their potential to differentiate into post-mitotic cells with an intact proteome. As such, 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 polyQ-expanded aggregation in iPSCs from HD patients (HD-iPSCs). iPSCs exhibit high levels of UBR5, a ubiquitin ligase required for proteasomal degradation of both normal and mutant HTT. Conversely, loss of UBR5 increases HTT levels and triggers polyQ-expanded aggregation in HD-iPSCs. Moreover, UBR5 knockdown hastens polyQ-expanded aggregation and neurotoxicity in invertebrate models. Notably, UBR5 overexpression induces polyubiquitination and degradation of mutant HTT, reducing polyQ-expanded aggregates in HD-cell models. Besides HTT levels, intrinsic enhanced UBR5 expression determines global proteostasis of iPSCs preventing the aggregation of misfolded proteins ensued from normal metabolism. Thus, our findings indicate UBR5 as a modulator of super-vigilant proteostasis of iPSCs.
| Authors | Koyuncu S, Saez I, Lee HJ, Gutierrez-Garcia R, Pokrzywa W, Fatima A, Hoppe T, Vilchez D |
|---|---|
| Journal | Nature communications |
| Publication Date | 2018 Jul 23;9(1):2886 |
| PubMed | 30038412 |
| PubMed Central | PMC6056416 |
| DOI | 10.1038/s41467-018-05320-3 |