Alpha-synuclein (αSyn) misfolding is associated with several devastating neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD). In yeast cells and in neurons αSyn accumulation is cytotoxic, but little is known about its normal function or pathobiology. The earliest defect following αSyn expression in yeast was a block in endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-to-Golgi vesicular trafficking. In a genomewide screen, the largest class of toxicity modifiers were proteins functioning at this same step, including the Rab guanosine triphosphatase Ypt1p, which associated with cytoplasmic αSyn inclusions. Elevated expression of Rab1, the mammalian YPT1 homolog, protected against αSyn-induced dopaminergic neuron loss in animal models of PD. Thus, synucleinopathies may result from disruptions in basic cellular functions that interface with the unique biology of particular neurons to make them especially vulnerable.Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder (1,2). Accruing evidence points to a causative role for the presynaptic protein alpha-synuclein (αSyn) in PD pathogenesis. αSyn is a major constituent of Lewy Bodies-cellular inclusions that are the hallmark pathological feature of PD and other neurodegenerative disorders collectively

To better understand the response to mitochondrial dysfunction, we examined the mechanism by which Activating Transcription Factor associated with Stress-1 (ATFS-1) senses mitochondrial stress and communicates with the nucleus during the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt). We found that the key point of regulation was the mitochondrial import efficiency of ATFS-1. In addition to a nuclear localization sequence, ATFS-1 has an amino-terminal mitochondrial targeting sequence, which was essential for UPRmt repression. Normally, ATFS-1 is imported into mitochondria and degraded. However, during mitochondrial stress, import efficiency was reduced allowing a percentage of ATFS-1 to accumulate in the cytosol and traffic to the nucleus. Our results show that cells monitor mitochondrial import efficiency via ATFS-1 to coordinate the level of mitochondrial dysfunction with the protective transcriptional response.

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The cellular response to unfolded and misfolded proteins in the mitochondrial matrix is poorly understood. Here, we report on a genome-wide RNAi-based screen for genes that signal the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR(mt)) in C. elegans. Unfolded protein stress in the mitochondria correlates with complex formation between a homeodomain-containing transcription factor DVE-1 and the small ubiquitin-like protein UBL-5, both of which are encoded by genes required for signaling the UPR(mt). Activation of the UPR(mt) correlates temporally and spatially with nuclear redistribution of DVE-1 and with its enhanced binding to the promoters of mitochondrial chaperone genes. These events and the downstream UPR(mt) are attenuated in animals with reduced activity of clpp-1, which encodes a mitochondrial matrix protease homologous to bacterial ClpP. As ClpP is known to function in the bacterial heat-shock response, our findings suggest that eukaryotes utilize component(s) from the protomitochondrial symbiont to signal the UPR(mt).

Autophagy proteins are normally involved in the formation of double-membrane autophagosomes that mediate bulk cytoplasmic and organelle degradation. Here we report the modification of single-membrane vacuoles in cells by autophagy proteins. Light Chain 3 (LC3), a component of autophagosomes, is recruited to single-membrane entotic vacuoles, macropinosomes, and phagosomes harboring apoptotic cells, in a manner dependent on lipidation machinery including Atg5 and Atg7, and the class III PI-3-kinase Vps34. These downstream components of autophagy machinery, but not the upstream mTor-regulated Ulk- Atg13-Fip200 complex, facilitate lysosome fusion to single membranes and the degradation of internalized cargo. For entosis, a live cell engulfment program, the autophagy protein-dependent fusion of lysosomes to vacuolar membranes leads to the death of internalized cells, which are killed by their hosts. As pathogen-containing phagosomes can be targeted in a similar manner, the death of epithelial cells by this mechanism mimics pathogen destruction. These data define the targeting of single-membrane vacuoles as a property of autophagy pathway proteins in cells in the absence of pathogenic organisms.

Summary Genetic analyses previously implicated the matrix-localized protease ClpP in signaling the stress of protein misfolding in the mitochondrial matrix to activate nuclear encoded mitochondrial chaperone genes in C. elegans (UPRmt). Here we report that haf-1, a gene encoding a mitochondria-localized ATP-binding cassette protein, is required for signaling within the UPRmt and for coping with misfolded protein stress. Peptide efflux from isolated mitochondria was ATP-dependent and required HAF-1 and the protease ClpP. Defective UPRmt signaling in the haf-1 deleted worms was associated with failure of the bZIP protein, ZC376.7, to localize to nuclei in worms with perturbed mitochondrial protein folding, whereas zc376.7(RNAi) strongly inhibited the UPRmt. These observations suggest a simple model whereby perturbation of the protein-folding environment in the mitochondrial matrix promotes ClpP-mediated generation of peptides whose haf-1-dependent export from the matrix contributes to UPRmt signaling across the mitochondrial inner membrane.

A variety of debilitating diseases including diabetes, Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson's, and prion-based diseases are linked to stress within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Using S. cerevisiae, we sought to determine the relationship between protein misfolding, ER stress, and cell death. In the absence of ERV29, a stress-induced gene required for ER associated degradation (ERAD), misfolded proteins accumulate in the ER leading to persistent ER stress and subsequent cell death. Cells alleviate ER stress through the unfolded protein response (UPR); however, if stress is sustained the UPR contributes to cell death by causing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are generated from two sources: the UPR-regulated oxidative folding machinery in the ER and mitochondria. Our results demonstrate a direct mechanism(s) by which misfolded proteins lead to cellular damage and death.

SUMMARY Mitochondrial dysfunction is pervasive in human pathologies such as neurodegeneration, diabetes, cancer and pathogen infections as well as during normal aging. Cells sense and respond to mitochondrial dysfunction by activating a protective transcriptional program known as the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt), which includes genes that promote mitochondrial protein homeostasis and the recovery of defective organelles [1, 2]. Work in C. elegans has shown that the UPRmt is regulated by the transcription factor ATFS-1, which is regulated by organelle partitioning. Normally, ATFS-1 accumulates within mitochondria, but during respiratory chain dysfunction, high levels of ROS or mitochondrial protein folding stress, a percentage of ATFS-1 accumulates in the cytosol and traffics to the nucleus where it activates the UPRmt [2]. While similar transcriptional responses have been described in mammals [3, 4], how the UPRmt is regulated remains unclear. Here, we describe a mammalian transcription factor, ATF5, which is regulated similarly to ATFS-1 and induces a similar transcriptional response. ATF5 expression can rescue UPRmt signaling in atfs-1-deficient worms requiring the same UPRmt promoter element identified in C. elegans. Furthermore, mammalian cells require ATF5 to maintain mitochondrial activity during mitochondrial stress and to promote organelle recovery. Combined, these data suggest that regulation of the UPRmt is conserved from worms to mammals.