HDAC6 rescues neurodegeneration and provides an essential link between autophagy and the UPS.

A prominent feature of late-onset neurodegenerative diseases is accumulation of misfolded protein in vulnerable neurons. When levels of misfolded protein overwhelm degradative pathways, the result is cellular toxicity and neurodegeneration. Cellular mechanisms for degrading misfolded protein include the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), the main non-lysosomal degradative pathway for ubiquitinated proteins, and autophagy, a lysosome-mediated degradative pathway. The UPS and autophagy have long been viewed as complementary degradation systems with no point of intersection. This view has been challenged by two observations suggesting an apparent interaction: impairment of the UPS induces autophagy in vitro, and conditional knockout of autophagy in the mouse brain leads to neurodegeneration with ubiquitin-positive pathology. It is not known whether autophagy is strictly a parallel degradation system, or whether it is a compensatory degradation system when the UPS is impaired; furthermore, if there is a compensatory interaction between these systems, the molecular link is not known. Here we show that autophagy acts as a compensatory degradation system when the UPS is impaired in Drosophila melanogaster, and that histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6), a microtubule-associated deacetylase that interacts with polyubiquitinated proteins, is an essential mechanistic link in this compensatory interaction. We found that compensatory autophagy was induced in response to mutations affecting the proteasome and in response to UPS impairment in a fly model of the neurodegenerative disease spinobulbar muscular atrophy. Autophagy compensated for impaired UPS function in an HDAC6-dependent manner. Furthermore, expression of HDAC6 was sufficient to rescue degeneration associated with UPS dysfunction in vivo in an autophagy-dependent manner. This study suggests that impairment of autophagy (for example, associated with ageing or genetic variation) might predispose to neurodegeneration. Morover, these findings suggest that it may be possible to intervene in neurodegeneration by augmenting HDAC6 to enhance autophagy.

The microtubule-associated histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) regulates epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) endocytic trafficking and degradation.

Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) is a microtubule-associated deacetylase with tubulin deacetylase activity, and it binds dynein motors. Recent studies revealed that microtubule acetylation affects the affinity and processivity of microtubule motors. These unique properties implicate a role for HDAC6 in intracellular organelle transport. Here, we show that HDAC6 associates with the endosomal compartments and controls epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) trafficking and degradation. We found that loss of HDAC6 promoted EGFR degradation. Mechanistically, HDAC6 deficiency did not cause aberrant EGFR internalization and recycling. Rather, it resulted in accelerated segregation of EGFR from early endosomes and premature delivery of EGFR to the late endosomal and lysosomal compartments. The deregulated EGFR endocytic trafficking was accompanied by an increase in microtubule-dependent movement of EGFR-bearing vesicles, revealing a novel regulation of EGFR vesicular trafficking and degradation by the microtubule deacetylase HDAC6.

The HDAC complex and cytoskeleton.

HDAC6 is a cytoplasmic deacetylase that dynamically associates with the microtubule and actin cytoskeletons. HDAC6 regulates growth factor-induced chemotaxis by its unique deacetylase activity towards microtubules or other substrates. Here we describe a non-catalytic structural domain that is essential for HDAC6 function and places HDAC6 as a critical mediator linking the acetylation and ubiquitination network. This evolutionarily conserved motif, termed the BUZ domain, has features of a zinc finger and binds both mono- and polyubiquitinated proteins. Furthermore, the BUZ domain promotes HDAC6 mono-ubiquitination. These results establish the BUZ domain, in addition to the UIM and CUE domains, as a novel motif that both binds ubiquitin and mediates mono-ubiquitination. Importantly, the BUZ domain is essential for HDAC6 to promote chemotaxis, indicating that communication with the ubiquitin network is critical for proper HDAC6 function. The unique presence of the UIM and CUE domains in proteins involved in endocytic trafficking suggests that HDAC6 might also regulate vesicle transport and protein degradation. Indeed, we have found that HDAC6 is actively transported and concentrated in vesicular compartments. We propose that an integration of reversible acetylation and ubiquitination by HDAC6 may be a novel component in regulating the cytoskeleton, vesicle transport and protein degradation.

Histone deacetylase 6 regulates growth factor-induced actin remodeling and endocytosis.

Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) is a cytoplasmic deacetylase that uniquely catalyzes alpha-tubulin deacetylation and promotes cell motility. However, the mechanism underlying HDAC6-dependent cell migration and the role for microtubule acetylation in motility are not known. Here we show that HDAC6-induced global microtubule deacetylation was not sufficient to stimulate cell migration. Unexpectedly, in response to growth factor stimulation, HDAC6 underwent rapid translocation to actin-enriched membrane ruffles and subsequently became associated with macropinosomes, the vesicles for fluid-phase endocytosis. Supporting the importance of these associations, membrane ruffle formation, macropinocytosis, and cell migration were all impaired in HDAC6-deficient cells. Conversely, elevated HDAC6 levels promoted membrane ruffle formation with a concomitant increase in macropinocytosis and motility. In search for an HDAC6 target, we found that heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), another prominent substrate of HDAC6, was also recruited to membrane ruffles and macropinosomes. Significantly, inhibition of Hsp90 activity suppressed membrane ruffling and cell migration, while expression of an acetylation-resistant Hsp90 mutant promoted ruffle formation. Our results uncover a surprising role for HDAC6 in actin remodeling-dependent processes and identify the actin cytoskeleton as an important target of HDAC6-regulated protein deacetylation.

Distinct Wnt signaling pathways have opposing roles in appendage regeneration.

In contrast to mammals, lower vertebrates have a remarkable capacity to regenerate complex structures damaged by injury or disease. This process, termed epimorphic regeneration, involves progenitor cells created through the reprogramming of differentiated cells or through the activation of resident stem cells. Wnt/beta-catenin signaling regulates progenitor cell fate and proliferation during embryonic development and stem cell function in adults, but its functional involvement in epimorphic regeneration has not been addressed. Using transgenic fish lines, we show that Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is activated in the regenerating zebrafish tail fin and is required for formation and subsequent proliferation of the progenitor cells of the blastema. Wnt/beta-catenin signaling appears to act upstream of FGF signaling, which has recently been found to be essential for fin regeneration. Intriguingly, increased Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is sufficient to augment regeneration, as tail fins regenerate faster in fish heterozygous for a loss-of-function mutation in axin1, a negative regulator of the pathway. Likewise, activation of Wnt/beta-catenin signaling by overexpression of wnt8 increases proliferation of progenitor cells in the regenerating fin. By contrast, overexpression of wnt5b (pipetail) reduces expression of Wnt/beta-catenin target genes, impairs proliferation of progenitors and inhibits fin regeneration. Importantly, fin regeneration is accelerated in wnt5b mutant fish. These data suggest that Wnt/beta-catenin signaling promotes regeneration, whereas a distinct pathway activated by wnt5b acts in a negative-feedback loop to limit regeneration.

Wilms tumor suppressor WTX negatively regulates WNT/beta-catenin signaling.

Aberrant WNT signal transduction is involved in many diseases. In colorectal cancer and melanoma, mutational disruption of proteins involved in the degradation of beta-catenin, the key effector of the WNT signaling pathway, results in stabilization of beta-catenin and, in turn, activation of transcription. We have used tandem-affinity protein purification and mass spectrometry to define the protein interaction network of the beta-catenin destruction complex. This assay revealed that WTX, a protein encoded by a gene mutated in Wilms tumors, forms a complex with beta-catenin, AXIN1, beta-TrCP2 (beta-transducin repeat-containing protein 2), and APC (adenomatous polyposis coli). Functional analyses in cultured cells, Xenopus, and zebrafish demonstrate that WTX promotes beta-catenin ubiquitination and degradation, which antagonize WNT/beta-catenin signaling. These data provide a possible mechanistic explanation for the tumor suppressor activity of WTX.

HDAC6 deacetylation of tubulin modulates dynamics of cellular adhesions.

Genetic or pharmacological alteration of the activity of the histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) induces a parallel alteration in cell migration. Using tubacin to block deacetylation of alpha-tubulin, and not other HDAC6 substrates, yielded a motility reduction equivalent to agents that block all NAD-independent HDACs. Accordingly, we investigated how the failure to deacetylate tubulin contributes to decreased motility in HDAC6-inhibited cells. Testing the hypothesis that motility is reduced because cellular adhesion is altered, we found that inhibiting HDAC6 activity towards tubulin rapidly increased total adhesion area. Next, we investigated the mechanism of the adhesion area increase. Formation of adhesions proceeded normally and cell spreading was more rapid in the absence of active HDAC6; however, photobleaching assays and adhesion breakdown showed that adhesion turnover was slower. To test the role of hyperacetylated tubulin in altering adhesion turnover, we measured microtubule dynamics in HDAC6-inhibited cells because dynamic microtubules are required to target adhesions for turnover. HDAC6 inhibition yielded a decrease in microtubule dynamics that was sufficient to decrease focal adhesion turnover. Thus, our results suggest a scenario in which the decreased dynamics of hyperacetylated microtubules in HDAC6-inhibited cells compromises their capacity to mediate the focal adhesion dynamics required for rapid cell migration.

HDAC6 is a microtubule-associated deacetylase.

Reversible acetylation of alpha-tubulin has been implicated in regulating microtubule stability and function. The distribution of acetylated alpha-tubulin is tightly controlled and stereotypic. Acetylated alpha-tubulin is most abundant in stable microtubules but is absent from dynamic cellular structures such as neuronal growth cones and the leading edges of fibroblasts. However, the enzymes responsible for regulating tubulin acetylation and deacetylation are not known. Here we report that a member of the histone deacetylase family, HDAC6, functions as a tubulin deacetylase. HDAC6 is localized exclusively in the cytoplasm, where it associates with microtubules and localizes with the microtubule motor complex containing p150(glued) (ref. 3). In vivo, the overexpression of HDAC6 leads to a global deacetylation of alpha-tubulin, whereas a decrease in HDAC6 increases alpha-tubulin acetylation. In vitro, purified HDAC6 potently deacetylates alpha-tubulin in assembled microtubules. Furthermore, overexpression of HDAC6 promotes chemotactic cell movement, supporting the idea that HDAC6-mediated deacetylation regulates microtubule-dependent cell motility. Our results show that HDAC6 is the tubulin deacetylase, and provide evidence that reversible acetylation regulates important biological processes beyond histone metabolism and gene transcription.