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  2. Smurf1 polyubiquitinates on K285/K282 of the kinases Mst1/2 to attenuate their tumor-suppressor functions

Smurf1 polyubiquitinates on K285/K282 of the kinases Mst1/2 to attenuate their tumor-suppressor functions

  • J Biol Chem. 2023 Oct 25:105395. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105395.
Yana Xu 1 Meiyu Qu 2 Yangxun He 3 Qiangqiang He 1 Tingyu Shen 3 Jiahao Luo 3 Dan Tan 3 Hangyang Bao 3 Chengyun Xu 3 Xing Ji 2 Xinhua Hu 4 Muhammad Qasim Barkat 3 Ling-Hui Zeng 5 Ximei Wu 6
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Orthopaedics, the Affiliated Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310016, China; Department of Pharmacology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
  • 2 Department of Orthopaedics, the Affiliated Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310016, China; Key Laboratory of Novel Targets and Drug Study for Neural Repair of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou City University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310015, China.
  • 3 Department of Orthopaedics, the Affiliated Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310016, China.
  • 4 Department of Clinical Pharmacology, the Affiliated Second Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310009, China.
  • 5 Key Laboratory of Novel Targets and Drug Study for Neural Repair of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou City University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310015, China. Electronic address: zenglh@zucc.edu.cn.
  • 6 Department of Orthopaedics, the Affiliated Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310016, China; Department of Pharmacology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, China. Electronic address: xiwu@zju.edu.cn.
Abstract

Sterile 20-like kinases Mst1 and Mst2 (Mst1/2) and large tumor suppressor 1/2 (Lats1/2) are core kinases to mediate Hippo signaling in maintaining tissue homeostasis. We have previously demonstrated that Smad ubiquitin regulatory factor 1 (Smurf1), a HECT type E3 ligase, ubiquitinates and in turn destabilizes Lats1/2 to induce the transcriptional output of Hippo signaling. Here, we unexpectedly find that Smurf1 interacts with and polyubiquitinates Mst1/2 by virtue of K27- and K29-linked ubiquitin chains, resulting in the proteasomal degradation of Mst1/2 and attenuation of their tumor-suppressor functions. Among the potential ubiquitin acceptor sites on Mst1/2, K285/K282 are conserved and essential for Smurf1-induced polyubiquitination and degradation of Mst1/2 as well as transcriptional output of Hippo signaling. As a result, K285R/K282R mutation of Mst1/2 not only negates the transcriptional output of Hippo signaling but enhances the tumor-suppressor functions of Mst1/2. Together, we demonstrate that Smurf1-mediated polyubiquitination on K285/K282 of Mst1/2 destabilizes Mst1/2 to attenuate their tumor-suppressor functions. Thus, the present study identifies Smurf1-mediated ubiquitination of Mst1/2 as a hitherto uncharacterized mechanism fine-tuning the Hippo signaling pathway and may provide additional targets for therapeutic intervention of diseases associated with this important pathway.

Keywords

Hippo signaling; Mst1/2; Smurf1; Tumorigenesis; Ubiquitination.

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