The ER glycoprotein quality control system

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the major site for folding and sorting of newly synthesized secretory cargo proteins. One central regulator of this process is the quality control machinery, which retains and ultimately disposes of misfolded secretory proteins before they can exit the ER. The ER quality control process is highly effective and mutations in cargo molecules are linked to a variety of diseases. In mammalian cells, a large number of secretory proteins, whether membrane bound or soluble, are asparagine (N)-glycosylated. Recent attention has focused on a sugar transferase, UDP-Glucose: glycoprotein glucosyl transferase (UGGT), which is now recognized as a constituent of the ER quality control machinery. UGGT is capable of sensing the folding state of glycoproteins and attaches a single glucose residue to the Man9GlcNAc2 glycan of incompletely folded or misfolded glycoproteins. This enables misfolded glycoproteins to rebind calnexin and reenter productive folding cycles. Prolonging the time of glucose addition on misfolded glycoproteins ultimately results in either the proper folding of the glycoprotein or its presentation to an ER associated degradation machinery.     

HRD gene dependence of endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation

Work from several laboratories has indicated that many different proteins are subject to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) degradation by a common ER-associated machinery. This machinery includes ER membrane proteins Hrd1p/Der3p and Hrd3p and the ER-associated ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes Ubc7p and Ubc6p. The wide variety of substrates for this degradation pathway has led to the reasonable hypothesis that the HRD (Hmg CoA reductase degradation) gene-encoded proteins are generally involved in ER protein degradation in eukaryotes. We have tested this model by directly comparing the HRD dependency of the ER-associated degradation for various ER membrane proteins. Our data indicated that the role of HRD genes in protein degradation, even in this highly defined subset of proteins, can vary from absolute dependence to complete independence. Thus, ER-associated degradation can occur by mechanisms that do not involve Hrd1p or Hrd3p, despite their apparently broad envelope of substrates. These data favor models in which the HRD gene-encoded proteins function as specificity factors, such as ubiquitin ligases, rather than as factors involved in common aspects of ER degradation.     

Molecular machinery required for protein transport from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi complex

The cellular machinery responsible for conveying proteins between the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi is being investigated using genetics and biochemistry. A role for vesicles in mediating protein traffic between the ER and the Golgi has been established by characterizing yeast mutants defective in this process, and by using recently developed cell-free assays that measure ER to Golgi transport. These tools have also allowed the identification of several proteins crucial to intracellular protein trafficking. The characterization and possible functions of several GTP-binding proteins, peripheral membrane proteins, and an integral membrane protein during ER to Golgi transport are discussed here.     

Misfolded proteins traffic from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) due to ER export signals

Most misfolded secretory proteins remain in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and are degraded by ER-associated degradation (ERAD). However, some misfolded proteins exit the ER and traffic to the Golgi before degradation. Using model misfolded substrates, with or without defined ER exit signals, we found misfolded proteins can depart the ER by continuing to exhibit the functional export signals present in the corresponding correctly folded proteins. Anterograde transport of misfolded proteins utilizes the same machinery responsible for exporting correctly folded proteins. Passive ER retention, in which misfolded proteins fail to exit the ER due to the absence of exit signals or the inability to functionally present them, likely contributes to the retention of nonnative proteins in the ER. Intriguingly, compromising ERAD resulted in increased anterograde trafficking of a misfolded protein with an ER exit signal, suggesting that ERAD and ER exit machinery can compete for binding of misfolded proteins. Disabling ERAD did not result in transport of an ERAD substrate lacking an export signal. This is an important distinction for those seeking possible therapeutic approaches involving inactivating ERAD in anticipation of exporting a partially active protein.     

Retrograde protein translocation: ERADication of secretory proteins in health and disease.

Eukaryotic cells have a complex degradation machinery that eliminates misfolded or unassembled secretory proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The proteins are retained in an ER/pre-Golgi compartment and then hydrolysed by the cytosolic ubiquitin-proteasome system. This requires retrograde translocation of proteins from the ER back to the cytoplasm, which is mediated by Sec61, the central component of the ER protein-import channel. This proteolytic pathway prevents a potentially lethal aggregation of secretory proteins; however, several viruses misuse it to escape detection, and bacterial and plant toxins might also exploit it. Underactive or overactive ER degradation machinery contributes to the pathogenesis of several severe human diseases.     

Export of a cysteine-free misfolded secretory protein from the endoplasmic reticulum for degradation requires interaction with protein disulfide isomerase

Protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) interacts with secretory proteins, irrespective of their thiol content, late during translocation into the ER; thus, PDI may be part of the quality control machinery in the ER. We used yeast pdi1 mutants with deletions in the putative peptide binding region of the molecule to investigate its role in the recognition of misfolded secretory proteins in the ER and their export to the cytosol for degradation. Our pdi1 deletion mutants are deficient in the export of a misfolded cysteine-free secretory protein across the ER membrane to the cytosol for degradation, but ER-to-Golgi complex transport of properly folded secretory proteins is only marginally affected. We demonstrate by chemical cross-linking that PDI specifically interacts with the misfolded secretory protein and that mutant forms of PDI have a lower affinity for this protein. In the ER of the pdi1 mutants, a higher proportion of the misfolded secretory protein remains associated with BiP, and in export-deficient sec61 mutants, the misfolded secretory protein remain bounds to PDI. We conclude that the chaperone PDI is part of the quality control machinery in the ER that recognizes terminally misfolded secretory proteins and targets them to the export channel in the ER membrane.     

Role and regulation of the ER chaperone BiP

BiP, an HSP70 molecular chaperone located in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), binds newly-synthesized proteins as they are translocated into the ER and maintains them in a state competent for subsequent folding and oligomerization. BiP is also an essential component of the translocation machinery, as well as playing a role in retrograde transport across the ER membrane of aberrant proteins destined for degradation by the proteasome. BiP is an abundant protein under all growth conditions, but its synthesis is markedly induced under conditions that lead to the accumulation of unfolded polypeptides in the ER. This attribute provides a marker for disease states that result from misfolding of secretory and transmembrane proteins.     

植物表达分泌蛋白的运输及定位

分泌途径主要由内膜系统构成,内质网和高尔基体对于分泌蛋白的运输及定位具有重要作用。分泌蛋白的运输包括顺行途径和逆行途径。蛋白质通过质流和受体介导的途径运输到小泡中。在植物中,分泌蛋白的运输主要通过小泡和相连的小管来完成。分子伴侣和质量控制不仅能优化新合成蛋白的折叠和组装,而且去除了有折叠缺陷的蛋白。分泌蛋白的定位需要特定的信号肽,而高尔基体固有蛋白以依赖跨膜长度的方式,沿着分泌途径的细胞器分布。本文对植物表达分泌蛋白的分泌途径及定位、相关的分子伴侣和质量控制进行了综述。     

Protein quality control in the ER: balancing the ubiquitin checkbook

Protein maturation in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is subject to stringent quality control. Terminally misfolded polypeptides are usually ejected into the cytoplasm and targeted for destruction by the proteasome. Ubiquitin conjugation is essential for both extraction and proteolysis. We discuss the role of the ubiquitin conjugation machinery in this pathway and focus on the role of ubiquitin ligase complexes as gatekeepers for membrane passage. We then examine the type of ubiquitin modification applied to the misfolded ER protein and the role of de-ubiquitylating enzymes in the extraction of proteins from the ER.     

A luminal surveillance complex that selects misfolded glycoproteins for ER-associated degradation

How the ER-associated degradation (ERAD) machinery accurately identifies terminally misfolded proteins is poorly understood. For luminal ERAD substrates, this recognition depends on their folding and glycosylation status as well as on the conserved ER lectin Yos9p. Here we show that Yos9p is part of a stable complex that organizes key components of ERAD machinery on both sides of the ER membrane, including the transmembrane ubiquitin ligase Hrd1p. We further demonstrate that Yos9p, together with Kar2p and Hrd3p, forms a luminal surveillance complex that both recruits nonnative proteins to the core ERAD machinery and assists a distinct sugar-dependent step necessary to commit substrates for degradation. When Hrd1p is uncoupled from the Yos9p surveillance complex, degradation can occur independently of the requirement for glycosylation. Thus, Yos9p/Kar2p/Hrd3p acts as a gatekeeper, ensuring correct identification of terminally misfolded proteins by recruiting misfolded forms to the ERAD machinery, contributing to the interrogation of substrate sugar status, and preventing glycosylation-independent degradation.     

Topology of molecular machines of the endoplasmic reticulum: a compilation of proteomics and cytological data

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a key organelle of the secretion pathway involved in the synthesis of both proteins and lipids destined for multiple sites within and without the cell. The ER functions to both co- and post-translationally modify newly synthesized proteins and lipids and sort them for housekeeping within the ER and for transport to their sites of function away from the ER. In addition, the ER is involved in the metabolism and degradation of specific xenobiotics and endogenous biosynthetic products. A variety of proteomics studies have been reported on different subcompartments of the ER providing an ER protein dictionary with new data being made available on many protein complexes of relevance to the biology of the ER including the ribosome, the translocon, coatomer proteins, cytoskeletal proteins, folding proteins, the antigen-processing machinery, signaling proteins and proteins involved in membrane traffic. This review examines proteomics and cytological data in support of the presence of specific molecular machines at specific sites or subcompartments of the ER.     

Phosphorylation of components of the ER translocation site.

In many eukaryotic cells, protein secretion is regulated by extracellular signalling molecules giving rise to increased intracellular Ca2+ and activation of kinases and phosphatases. To test whether components involved in the first step of secretion, the translocation of proteins across the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane, are regulated by Ca2+-dependent phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, we have investigated the effect of Ca2+ on kinases associated with the rough ER. Using purified rough microsomes from dog pancreas we found that Ca2+-dependent isoforms of protein kinase C (PKC) are associated with the rough ER and phosphorylate essential components of the protein translocation machinery. Phosphorylation of microsomal proteins by PKCs increased protein translocation efficiency in vitro. We also found that proteins of the translocation machinery became phosphorylated in intact cells. This suggests a further level of regulation of protein translocation across the ER membrane.     

Perk is essential for translational regulation and cell survival during the unfolded protein response

Malfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) inhibit translation initiation. This response is believed to be mediated by increased phosphorylation of eukaryotic initiation factor 2alpha (eIF2alpha) and is hypothesized to reduce the work load imposed on the folding machinery during stress. Here we report that mutating the gene encoding the ER stress-activated eIF2alpha kinase PERK abolishes the phosphorylation of eIF2alpha in response to accumulation of malfolded proteins in the ER resulting in abnormally elevated protein synthesis and higher levels of ER stress. Mutant cells are markedly impaired in their ability to survive ER stress and inhibition of protein synthesis by cycloheximide treatment during ER stress ameliorates this impairment. PERK thus plays a major role in the ability of cells to adapt to ER stress.     

The role of autophagy in endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced pancreatic β cell death

In pancreatic β-cells, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the crucial site for insulin biosynthesis, as this is where the protein-folding machinery for secretory proteins is localized. Perturbations to ER function of the β-cell, such as those caused by high levels of free fatty acid and insulin resistance, can lead to an imbalance in protein homeostasis and ER stress, which has been recognized as an important mechanism for type 2 diabetes. Macroautophagy (hereafter referred to as autophagy) is activated as a novel signaling pathway in response to ER stress. In this review, we outline the mechanism of ER stress-mediated β-cell death and focus on the role of autophagy in ameliorating ER stress. The development of drugs to take advantage of the potential protective effect of autophagy in ER stress, such as glucagon like peptide-1, will be a promising avenue of investigation.     

Membrane trafficking in higher plant cells: GFP and antibodies, partners for probing the secretory pathway.

Eukaryotic cells are characterised by the organised distribution of membrane bounded compartments in their cytoplasm. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the Golgi apparatus (GA) are part of this endomembrane machinery. They are involved in protein flow, and are in charge of specific functions such as the assembly, sorting and transport of newly synthesised proteins, glycoproteins or polysaccharides to their final destination, where the macromolecules are recognised either for action, storage, deposition or degradation. The structural and functional relationship between the ER and GA in higher plants is still a matter of debate. Therefore, it was essential to develop probes that would specifically label proteins or glycoproteins of the endomembrane system in situ. Here we compare two complementary approaches to probe plant endomembranes; immunocytochemistry on fixed cells, and in vivo studies using the expression of GFP tagged chimeric proteins. The structural relationship between ER and GA as based on pharmacological approaches using the two systems is explored.     

Proteomic assessment shows that many endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-resident proteins are targeted by N(epsilon)-lysine acetylation in the lumen of the organelle and predicts broad biological impact

In addition to the nucleus, cytosol, and mitochondrial lumen, N(ε)-lysine acetylation also occurs in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, the impact of such an event on ER functions is still unknown. Here, we analyzed the "ER acetyl-lysine proteome" by nano-LC-MS/MS and discovered that a large number of ER-resident and -transiting proteins undergo N(ε)-lysine acetylation in the lumen of the organelle. The list of ER-resident proteins includes chaperones and enzymes involved with post-translational modification and folding. Grouping of all acetylated proteins into major functional categories suggests that the ER-based acetylation machinery regulates very diverse biological events. As such, it is predicted to play a fundamental role in human physiology as well as human pathology.     

Murine polyomavirus requires the endoplasmic reticulum protein Derlin-2 to initiate infection

The pathways by which viruses enter cells are diverse, but in all cases, infection necessitates the transfer of the viral genome across a cellular membrane. Polyomavirus (Py) particles, after binding to glycolipid and glycoprotein receptors at the cell surface, are delivered to the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The nature and extent of virus disassembly in the ER, how the viral genome is transported to the cytosol and subsequently to the nucleus, and whether any cellular proteins are involved are not known. Here, we identify an ER-resident protein, Derlin-2, a factor implicated in the removal of misfolded proteins from the ER for cytosolic degradation, as a component of the machinery required for mouse Py to establish an infection. Inhibition of Derlin-2 function by expression of either a dominant-negative form of Derlin-2 or a short hairpin RNA that reduces Derlin-2 levels blocks Py infection by 50 to 75%. The block imposed by Derlin-2 inhibition occurs after the virus reaches the ER and can be bypassed by the introduction of Py DNA into the cytosol. These findings suggest a mode of Py entry that involves cytosolic access via the quality control machinery in the ER.     

A permeabilized cell system identifies the endoplasmic reticulum as a site of protein degradation

Analysis of the fate of a variety of newly synthesized proteins in the secretory pathway has provided evidence for the existence of a novel protein degradation system distinct from that of the lysosome. Although current evidence suggests that proteins degraded by this system are localized to a pre-Golgi compartment before degradation, the site of proteolysis has not been determined. A permeabilized cell system was developed to examine whether degradation by this pathway required transport out of the ER, and to define the biochemical characteristics of this process. Studies were performed on fibroblast cell lines expressing proteins known to be sensitive substrates for this degradative process, such as the chimeric integral membrane proteins, Tac-TCR alpha and Tac-TCR beta. By immunofluorescence microscopy, these proteins were found to be localized to the ER. Treatment with cycloheximide resulted in the progressive disappearance of intracellular staining without change in the ER localization of the chimeric proteins. Cells permeabilized with the pore-forming toxin streptolysin O were able to degrade these newly synthesized proteins. The protein degradation seen in permeabilized cells was representative of that seen in intact cells, as judged by the similar speed of degradation, substrate selectivity, temperature dependence, and involvement of free sulfhydryl groups. Degradation of these proteins in permeabilized cells took place in the absence of transport between the ER and the Golgi system. Moreover, degradation occurred in the absence of added ATP or cytosol, and in the presence of apyrase, GTP gamma S, or EDTA; i.e., under conditions which prevent transport of proteins out of the ER. The efficiency and selectivity of degradation of newly synthesized proteins were also conserved in an isolated ER fraction. These data indicate that the machinery responsible for pre-Golgi degradation of newly synthesized proteins exists within the ER itself, and can operate independent of exogenously added ATP and cytosolic factors.