The Bis(monoacylglycero)-phosphate Hypothesis: From Lysosomal Function to Therapeutic Avenues.

Lysosomes catabolize and recycle lipids and other biological molecules to maintain cellular homeostasis in diverse nutrient environments. Lysosomal lipid catabolism relies on the stimulatory activity of bis(monoacylglycero)phosphate (BMP), an enigmatic lipid whose levels are altered across myriad lysosome-associated diseases. Here, we review the discovery of BMP over half a century ago and its structural properties that facilitate the activation of lipid hydrolases and recruitment of their coactivators. We further discuss the current, yet incomplete, understanding of BMP catabolism and anabolism. To conclude, we discuss its role in lysosome-associated diseases and the potential for modulating its levels by pharmacologically activating and inhibiting the BMP synthase to therapeutically target lysosomal storage disorders, drug-induced phospholipidosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia, cancer, and viral infection.

Rapid phagosome isolation enables unbiased multiomic analysis of human microglial phagosomes.

Microglia are the resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS). Their phagocytic activity is central during brain development and homeostasis-and in a plethora of brain pathologies. However, little is known about the composition, dynamics, and function of human microglial phagosomes under homeostatic and pathological conditions. Here, we developed a method for rapid isolation of pure and intact phagosomes from human pluripotent stem cell-derived microglia under various in vitro conditions, and from human brain biopsies, for unbiased multiomic analysis. Phagosome profiling revealed that microglial phagosomes were equipped to sense minute changes in their environment and were highly dynamic. We detected proteins involved in synapse homeostasis, or implicated in brain pathologies, and identified the phagosome as the site where quinolinic acid was stored and metabolized for de novo nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) generation in the cytoplasm. Our findings highlight the central role of phagosomes in microglial functioning in the healthy and diseased brain.

Physiologic Medium Rewires Cellular Metabolism and Reveals Uric Acid as an Endogenous Inhibitor of UMP Synthase.

A complex interplay of environmental factors impacts the metabolism of human cells, but neither traditional culture media nor mouse plasma mimic the metabolite composition of human plasma. Here, we developed a culture medium with polar metabolite concentrations comparable to those of human plasma (human plasma-like medium [HPLM]). Culture in HPLM, relative to that in traditional media, had widespread effects on cellular metabolism, including on the metabolome, redox state, and glucose utilization. Among the most prominent was an inhibition of de novo pyrimidine synthesis-an effect traced to uric acid, which is 10-fold higher in the blood of humans than of mice and other non-primates. We find that uric acid directly inhibits uridine monophosphate synthase (UMPS) and consequently reduces the sensitivity of cancer cells to the chemotherapeutic agent 5-fluorouracil. Thus, media that better recapitulates the composition of human plasma reveals unforeseen metabolic wiring and regulation, suggesting that HPLM should be of broad utility.

mTORC1 Activator SLC38A9 Is Required to Efflux Essential Amino Acids from Lysosomes and Use Protein as a Nutrient.

The mTORC1 kinase is a master growth regulator that senses many environmental cues, including amino acids. Activation of mTORC1 by arginine requires SLC38A9, a poorly understood lysosomal membrane protein with homology to amino acid transporters. Here, we validate that SLC38A9 is an arginine sensor for the mTORC1 pathway, and we uncover an unexpectedly central role for SLC38A9 in amino acid homeostasis. SLC38A9 mediates the transport, in an arginine-regulated fashion, of many essential amino acids out of lysosomes, including leucine, which mTORC1 senses through the cytosolic Sestrin proteins. SLC38A9 is necessary for leucine generated via lysosomal proteolysis to exit lysosomes and activate mTORC1. Pancreatic cancer cells, which use macropinocytosed protein as a nutrient source, require SLC38A9 to form tumors. Thus, through SLC38A9, arginine serves as a lysosomal messenger that couples mTORC1 activation to the release from lysosomes of the essential amino acids needed to drive cell growth.

Glycerophosphodiesters inhibit lysosomal phospholipid catabolism in Batten disease.

Batten disease, the most prevalent form of neurodegeneration in children, is caused by mutations in the CLN3 gene, which encodes a lysosomal transmembrane protein. CLN3 loss leads to significant accumulation of glycerophosphodiesters (GPDs), the end products of glycerophospholipid catabolism in the lysosome. Despite GPD storage being robustly observed upon CLN3 loss, the role of GPDs in neuropathology remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that GPDs act as potent inhibitors of glycerophospholipid catabolism in the lysosome using human cell lines and mouse models. Mechanistically, GPDs bind and competitively inhibit the lysosomal phospholipases PLA2G15 and PLBD2, which we establish to possess phospholipase B activity. GPDs effectively inhibit the rate-limiting lysophospholipase activity of these phospholipases. Consistently, lysosomes of CLN3-deficient cells and tissues accumulate toxic lysophospholipids. Our work establishes that the storage material in Batten disease directly disrupts lysosomal lipid homeostasis, suggesting GPD clearance as a potential therapeutic approach to this fatal disease.

An Essential Role of the Mitochondrial Electron Transport Chain in Cell Proliferation Is to Enable Aspartate Synthesis.

The mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) enables many metabolic processes, but why its inhibition suppresses cell proliferation is unclear. It is also not well understood why pyruvate supplementation allows cells lacking ETC function to proliferate. We used a CRISPR-based genetic screen to identify genes whose loss sensitizes human cells to phenformin, a complex I inhibitor. The screen yielded GOT1, the cytosolic aspartate aminotransferase, loss of which kills cells upon ETC inhibition. GOT1 normally consumes aspartate to transfer electrons into mitochondria, but, upon ETC inhibition, it reverses to generate aspartate in the cytosol, which partially compensates for the loss of mitochondrial aspartate synthesis. Pyruvate stimulates aspartate synthesis in a GOT1-dependent fashion, which is required for pyruvate to rescue proliferation of cells with ETC dysfunction. Aspartate supplementation or overexpression of an aspartate transporter allows cells without ETC activity to proliferate. Thus, enabling aspartate synthesis is an essential role of the ETC in cell proliferation.

APOE4/4 is linked to damaging lipid droplets in Alzheimer's disease microglia.

Several genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease implicate genes involved in lipid metabolism and many of these lipid genes are highly expressed in glial cells1. However, the relationship between lipid metabolism in glia and Alzheimer's disease pathology remains poorly understood. Through single-nucleus RNA sequencing of brain tissue in Alzheimer's disease, we have identified a microglial state defined by the expression of the lipid droplet-associated enzyme ACSL1 with ACSL1-positive microglia being most abundant in patients with Alzheimer's disease having the APOE4/4 genotype. In human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived microglia, fibrillar Aß induces ACSL1 expression, triglyceride synthesis and lipid droplet accumulation in an APOE-dependent manner. Additionally, conditioned media from lipid droplet-containing microglia lead to Tau phosphorylation and neurotoxicity in an APOE-dependent manner. Our findings suggest a link between genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease with microglial lipid droplet accumulation and neurotoxic microglia-derived factors, potentially providing therapeutic strategies for Alzheimer's disease.

R-loop-derived cytoplasmic RNA-DNA hybrids activate an immune response.

R-loops are RNA-DNA-hybrid-containing nucleic acids with important cellular roles. Deregulation of R-loop dynamics can lead to DNA damage and genome instability1, which has been linked to the action of endonucleases such as XPG2-4. However, the mechanisms and cellular consequences of such processing have remained unclear. Here we identify a new population of RNA-DNA hybrids in the cytoplasm that are R-loop-processing products. When nuclear R-loops were perturbed by depleting the RNA-DNA helicase senataxin (SETX) or the breast cancer gene BRCA1 (refs. 5-7), we observed XPG- and XPF-dependent cytoplasmic hybrid formation. We identify their source as a subset of stable, overlapping nuclear hybrids with a specific nucleotide signature. Cytoplasmic hybrids bind to the pattern recognition receptors cGAS and TLR3 (ref. 8), activating IRF3 and inducing apoptosis. Excised hybrids and an R-loop-induced innate immune response were also observed in SETX-mutated cells from patients with ataxia oculomotor apraxia type 2 (ref. 9) and in BRCA1-mutated cancer cells10. These findings establish RNA-DNA hybrids as immunogenic species that aberrantly accumulate in the cytoplasm after R-loop processing, linking R-loop accumulation to cell death through the innate immune response. Aberrant R-loop processing and subsequent innate immune activation may contribute to many diseases, such as neurodegeneration and cancer.

Sharing is caring: TMEM165 a Golgi calcium importer used by the lysosome.

Calcium is a crucial second messenger in the cell that is stored in organelles including lysosomes. Proteins that facilitate calcium entry to the lysosome were unknown. A recent report by Zajac et al. identified TMEM165 as a proton-activated calcium importer on the lysosome, thus discovering a key player in subcellular calcium homeostasis.

CLN3 is required for the clearance of glycerophosphodiesters from lysosomes.

Lysosomes have many roles, including degrading macromolecules and signalling to the nucleus1. Lysosomal dysfunction occurs in various human conditions, such as common neurodegenerative diseases and monogenic lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs)2-4. For most LSDs, the causal genes have been identified but, in some, the function of the implicated gene is unknown, in part because lysosomes occupy a small fraction of the cellular volume so that changes in lysosomal contents are difficult to detect. Here we develop the LysoTag mouse for the tissue-specific isolation of intact lysosomes that are compatible with the multimodal profiling of their contents. We used the LysoTag mouse to study CLN3, a lysosomal transmembrane protein with an unknown function. In children, the loss of CLN3 causes juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (Batten disease), a lethal neurodegenerative LSD. Untargeted metabolite profiling of lysosomes from the brains of mice lacking CLN3 revealed a massive accumulation of glycerophosphodiesters (GPDs)-the end products of glycerophospholipid catabolism. GPDs also accumulate in the lysosomes of CLN3-deficient cultured cells and we show that CLN3 is required for their lysosomal egress. Loss of CLN3 also disrupts glycerophospholipid catabolism in the lysosome. Finally, we found elevated levels of glycerophosphoinositol in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with Batten disease, suggesting the potential use of glycerophosphoinositol as a disease biomarker. Our results show that CLN3 is required for the lysosomal clearance of GPDs and reveal Batten disease as a neurodegenerative LSD with a defect in glycerophospholipid metabolism.

Maintaining Iron Homeostasis Is the Key Role of Lysosomal Acidity for Cell Proliferation.

The lysosome is an acidic multi-functional organelle with roles in macromolecular digestion, nutrient sensing, and signaling. However, why cells require acidic lysosomes to proliferate and which nutrients become limiting under lysosomal dysfunction are unclear. To address this, we performed CRISPR-Cas9-based genetic screens and identified cholesterol biosynthesis and iron uptake as essential metabolic pathways when lysosomal pH is altered. While cholesterol synthesis is only necessary, iron is both necessary and sufficient for cell proliferation under lysosomal dysfunction. Remarkably, iron supplementation restores cell proliferation under both pharmacologic and genetic-mediated lysosomal dysfunction. The rescue was independent of metabolic or signaling changes classically associated with increased lysosomal pH, uncoupling lysosomal function from cell proliferation. Finally, our experiments revealed that lysosomal dysfunction dramatically alters mitochondrial metabolism and hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) signaling due to iron depletion. Altogether, these findings identify iron homeostasis as the key function of lysosomal acidity for cell proliferation.

Golgi-IP, a tool for multimodal analysis of Golgi molecular content.

The Golgi is a membrane-bound organelle that is essential for protein and lipid biosynthesis. It represents a central trafficking hub that sorts proteins and lipids to various destinations or for secretion from the cell. The Golgi has emerged as a docking platform for cellular signaling pathways including LRRK2 kinase whose deregulation leads to Parkinson disease. Golgi dysfunction is associated with a broad spectrum of diseases including cancer, neurodegeneration, and cardiovascular diseases. To allow the study of the Golgi at high resolution, we report a rapid Golgi immunoprecipitation technique (Golgi-IP) to isolate intact Golgi mini-stacks for subsequent analysis of their content. By fusing the Golgi-resident protein TMEM115 to three tandem HA epitopes (GolgiTAG), we purified the Golgi using Golgi-IP with minimal contamination from other compartments. We then established an analysis pipeline using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry to characterize the human Golgi proteome, metabolome, and lipidome. Subcellular proteomics confirmed known Golgi proteins and identified proteins not previously associated with the Golgi. Metabolite profiling established the human Golgi metabolome and revealed the enrichment of uridine-diphosphate (UDP) sugars and their derivatives, which is consistent with their roles in protein and lipid glycosylation. Furthermore, targeted metabolomics validated SLC35A2 as the subcellular transporter for UDP-hexose. Finally, lipidomics analysis showed that phospholipids including phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylinositol, and phosphatidylserine are the most abundant Golgi lipids and that glycosphingolipids are enriched in this compartment. Altogether, our work establishes a comprehensive molecular map of the human Golgi and provides a powerful method to study the Golgi with high precision in health and disease.

Ferroptosis regulation by the NGLY1/NFE2L1 pathway.

SignificanceFerroptosis is an oxidative form of cell death whose biochemical regulation remains incompletely understood. Cap'n'collar (CNC) transcription factors including nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 1 (NFE2L1/NRF1) and NFE2L2/NRF2 can both regulate oxidative stress pathways but are each regulated in a distinct manner, and whether these two transcription factors can regulate ferroptosis independent of one another is unclear. We find that NFE2L1 can promote ferroptosis resistance, independent of NFE2L2, by maintaining the expression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), a key protein that prevents lethal lipid peroxidation. NFE2L2 can also promote ferroptosis resistance but does so through a distinct mechanism that appears independent of GPX4 protein expression. These results suggest that NFE2L1 and NFE2L2 independently regulate ferroptosis.

Lysosomal cathepsin D mediates endogenous mucin glycodomain catabolism in mammals.

Mucins are functionally implicated in a range of human pathologies, including cystic fibrosis, influenza, bacterial endocarditis, gut dysbiosis, and cancer. These observations have motivated the study of mucin biosynthesis as well as the development of strategies for inhibition of mucin glycosylation. Mammalian pathways for mucin catabolism, however, have remained underexplored. The canonical view, derived from analysis of N-glycoproteins in human lysosomal storage disorders, is that glycan degradation and proteolysis occur sequentially. Here, we challenge this view by providing genetic and biochemical evidence supporting mammalian proteolysis of heavily O-glycosylated mucin domains without prior deglycosylation. Using activity screening coupled with mass spectrometry, we ascribed mucin-degrading activity in murine liver to the lysosomal protease cathepsin D. Glycoproteomics of substrates digested with purified human liver lysosomal cathepsin D provided direct evidence for proteolysis within densely O-glycosylated domains. Finally, knockout of cathepsin D in a murine model of the human lysosomal storage disorder neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis 10 resulted in accumulation of mucins in liver-resident macrophages. Our findings imply that mucin-degrading activity is a component of endogenous pathways for glycoprotein catabolism in mammalian tissues.

Small molecule C381 targets the lysosome to reduce inflammation and ameliorate disease in models of neurodegeneration.

SignificanceNeurodegenerative diseases are poorly understood and difficult to treat. One common hallmark is lysosomal dysfunction leading to the accumulation of aggregates and other undegradable materials, which cause damage to brain resident cells. Lysosomes are acidic organelles responsible for breaking down biomolecules and recycling their constitutive parts. In this work, we find that the antiinflammatory and neuroprotective compound, discovered via a phenotypic screen, imparts its beneficial effects by targeting the lysosome and restoring its function. This is established using a genome-wide CRISPRi target identification screen and then confirmed using a variety of lysosome-targeted studies. The resulting small molecule from this study represents a potential treatment for neurodegenerative diseases as well as a research tool for the study of lysosomes in disease.

Carnitine octanoyltransferase is important for the assimilation of exogenous acetyl-L-carnitine into acetyl-CoA in mammalian cells.

In eukaryotes, carnitine is best known for its ability to shuttle esterified fatty acids across mitochondrial membranes for ß-oxidation. It also returns to the cytoplasm, in the form of acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC), some of the resulting acetyl groups for posttranslational protein modification and lipid biosynthesis. While dietary LAC supplementation has been clinically investigated, its effects on cellular metabolism are not well understood. To explain how exogenous LAC influences mammalian cell metabolism, we synthesized isotope-labeled forms of LAC and its analogs. In cultures of glucose-limited U87MG glioma cells, exogenous LAC contributed more robustly to intracellular acetyl-CoA pools than did ß-hydroxybutyrate, the predominant circulating ketone body in mammals. The fact that most LAC-derived acetyl-CoA is cytosolic is evident from strong labeling of fatty acids in U87MG cells by exogenous 13C2-acetyl-L-carnitine. We found that the addition of d3-acetyl-L-carnitine increases the supply of acetyl-CoA for cytosolic posttranslational modifications due to its strong kinetic isotope effect on acetyl-CoA carboxylase, the first committed step in fatty acid biosynthesis. Surprisingly, whereas cytosolic carnitine acetyltransferase is believed to catalyze acetyl group transfer from LAC to coenzyme A, CRAT-/- U87MG cells were unimpaired in their ability to assimilate exogenous LAC into acetyl-CoA. We identified carnitine octanoyltransferase as the key enzyme in this process, implicating a role for peroxisomes in efficient LAC utilization. Our work has opened the door to further biochemical investigations of a new pathway for supplying acetyl-CoA to certain glucose-starved cells.

CYP4F2 is a human-specific determinant of circulating N-acyl amino acid levels.

N-acyl amino acids are a large family of circulating lipid metabolites that modulate energy expenditure and fat mass in rodents. However, little is known about the regulation and potential cardiometabolic functions of N-acyl amino acids in humans. Here, we analyze the cardiometabolic phenotype associations and genomic associations of four plasma N-acyl amino acids (N-oleoyl-leucine, N-oleoyl-phenylalanine, N-oleoyl-serine, and N-oleoyl-glycine) in 2351 individuals from the Jackson Heart Study. We find that plasma levels of specific N-acyl amino acids are associated with cardiometabolic disease endpoints independent of free amino acid plasma levels and in patterns according to the amino acid head group. By integrating whole genome sequencing data with N-acyl amino acid levels, we identify that the genetic determinants of N-acyl amino acid levels also cluster according to the amino acid head group. Furthermore, we identify the CYP4F2 locus as a genetic determinant of plasma N-oleoyl-leucine and N-oleoyl-phenylalanine levels in human plasma. In experimental studies, we demonstrate that CYP4F2-mediated hydroxylation of N-oleoyl-leucine and N-oleoyl-phenylalanine results in metabolic diversification and production of many previously unknown lipid metabolites with varying characteristics of the fatty acid tail group, including several that structurally resemble fatty acid hydroxy fatty acids. These studies provide a structural framework for understanding the regulation and disease associations of N-acyl amino acids in humans and identify that the diversity of this lipid signaling family can be significantly expanded through CYP4F-mediated ω-hydroxylation.

Histidine catabolism is a major determinant of methotrexate sensitivity.

The chemotherapeutic drug methotrexate inhibits the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase1, which generates tetrahydrofolate, an essential cofactor in nucleotide synthesis2. Depletion of tetrahydrofolate causes cell death by suppressing DNA and RNA production3. Although methotrexate is widely used as an anticancer agent and is the subject of over a thousand ongoing clinical trials4, its high toxicity often leads to the premature termination of its use, which reduces its potential efficacy5. To identify genes that modulate the response of cancer cells to methotrexate, we performed a CRISPR-Cas9-based screen6,7. This screen yielded FTCD, which encodes an enzyme-formimidoyltransferase cyclodeaminase-that is required for the catabolism of the amino acid histidine8, a process that has not previously been linked to methotrexate sensitivity. In cultured cancer cells, depletion of several genes in the histidine degradation pathway markedly decreased sensitivity to methotrexate. Mechanistically, histidine catabolism drains the cellular pool of tetrahydrofolate, which is particularly detrimental to methotrexate-treated cells. Moreover, expression of the rate-limiting enzyme in histidine catabolism is associated with methotrexate sensitivity in cancer cell lines and with survival rate in patients. In vivo dietary supplementation of histidine increased flux through the histidine degradation pathway and enhanced the sensitivity of leukaemia xenografts to methotrexate. The histidine degradation pathway markedly influences the sensitivity of cancer cells to methotrexate and may be exploited to improve methotrexate efficacy through a simple dietary intervention.

Author Correction: High-fat diet enhances stemness and tumorigenicity of intestinal progenitors.

In Fig. 4e of this Article, the labels for 'Control' and 'HFD' were reversed ('Control' should have been labelled blue rather than purple, and 'HFD' should have been labelled purple rather than blue). Similarly, in Fig. 4f of this Article, the labels for 'V' and 'GW' were reversed ('V' should have been labelled blue rather than purple, and 'GW' should have been labelled purple instead of blue). The original figure has been corrected online.