RESUMO
The ubiquitin system plays a role in nearly every aspect of eukaryotic cell biology. The enzymes responsible for transferring ubiquitin onto specific substrates are the E3 ubiquitin ligases, a large and diverse family of proteins, for which biological roles and target substrates remain largely undefined. Studies using model organisms indicate that ubiquitin signaling mediates key steps in developmental processes and tissue regeneration. Here, we used the freshwater planarian, Schmidtea mediterranea, to investigate the role of Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligase (CRL) complexes in stem cell regulation during regeneration. We identified six S. mediterranea cullin genes, and used RNAi to uncover roles for homologs of Cullin-1, -3 and -4 in planarian regeneration. The cullin-1 RNAi phenotype included defects in blastema formation, organ regeneration, lesions, and lysis. To further investigate the function of cullin-1-mediated cellular processes in planarians, we examined genes encoding the adaptor protein Skp1 and F-box substrate-recognition proteins that are predicted to partner with Cullin-1. RNAi against skp1 resulted in phenotypes similar to cullin-1 RNAi, and an RNAi screen of the F-box genes identified 19 genes that recapitulated aspects of cullin-1 RNAi, including ones that in mammals are involved in stem cell regulation and cancer biology. Our data provides evidence that CRLs play discrete roles in regenerative processes and provide a platform to investigate how CRLs regulate stem cells in vivo.
Assuntos
Proteínas Culina/fisiologia , Proteínas F-Box/fisiologia , Proteínas de Helminto/fisiologia , Planárias/fisiologia , Regeneração/fisiologia , Ubiquitina-Proteína Ligases/fisiologia , Animais , Proteínas Culina/genética , Motivos F-Box , Regulação da Expressão Gênica , Genes de Helmintos , Pleiotropia Genética , Complexos Multiproteicos , Fenótipo , Planárias/genética , Interferência de RNA , RNA de Cadeia Dupla/genética , RNA de Helmintos/genética , RNA Interferente Pequeno/genética , Células-Tronco/fisiologia , Ubiquitina/fisiologiaRESUMO
E3 ubiquitin ligases constitute a large family of enzymes that modify specific proteins by covalently attaching ubiquitin polypeptides. This post-translational modification can serve to regulate protein function or longevity. In spite of their importance in cell physiology, the biological roles of most ubiquitin ligases remain poorly understood. Here, we analyzed the function of the HECT domain family of E3 ubiquitin ligases in stem cell biology and tissue regeneration in planarians. Using bioinformatic searches, we identified 17 HECT E3 genes that are expressed in the Schmidtea mediterranea genome. Whole-mount in situ hybridization experiments showed that HECT genes were expressed in diverse tissues and most were expressed in the stem cell population (neoblasts) or in their progeny. To investigate the function of all HECT E3 ligases, we inhibited their expression using RNA interference (RNAi) and determined that orthologs of huwe1, wwp1, and trip12 had roles in tissue regeneration. We show that huwe1 RNAi knockdown led to a significant expansion of the neoblast population and death by lysis. Further, our experiments showed that wwp1 was necessary for both neoblast and intestinal tissue homeostasis as well as uncovered an unexpected role of trip12 in posterior tissue specification. Taken together, our data provide insights into the roles of HECT E3 ligases in tissue regeneration and demonstrate that planarians will be a useful model to evaluate the functions of E3 ubiquitin ligases in stem cell regulation.