Exposure of cells to various stresses often leads to the induction of a group of proteins called heat shock proteins (HSPs, molecular chaperones). Hsp70 is one of the most highly inducible molecular chaperones, but its expression must be maintained at low levels under physiological conditions to permit constitutive cellular activities to proceed. Heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) is the transcriptional regulator of HSP gene expression, but it remains poorly understood how newly synthesized HSPs return to basal levels when HSF1 activity is attenuated. CHIP (carboxy terminus of Hsp70-binding protein), a dual-function co-chaperone/ubiquitin ligase, targets a broad range of chaperone substrates for proteasomal degradation. Here we show that CHIP not only enhances Hsp70 induction during acute stress but also mediates its turnover during the stress recovery process. Central to this dual-phase regulation is its substrate dependence: CHIP preferentially ubiquitinates chaperone-bound substrates, whereas degradation of Hsp70 by CHIP-dependent targeting to the ubiquitin-proteasome system occurs when misfolded substrates have been depleted. The sequential catalysis of the CHIP-associated chaperone adaptor and its bound substrate provides an elegant mechanism for maintaining homeostasis by tuning chaperone levels appropriately to reflect the status of protein folding within the cytoplasm.

Calcineurin, which binds to the Z-disc in cardiomyocytes via α-actinin, promotes cardiac hypertrophy in response to numerous pathologic stimuli. However, the endogenous mechanisms regulating calcineurin activity in cardiac muscle are not well understood. We demonstrate that a muscle-specific F-box protein called atrogin-1, or muscle atrophy F-box, directly interacts with calcineurin A and α-actinin-2 at the Z-disc of cardiomyocytes. Atrogin-1 associates with Skp1, Cul1, and Roc1 to assemble an SCF atrogin-1 complex with ubiquitin ligase activity. Expression of atrogin-1 decreases levels of calcineurin A and promotes its ubiquitination. Moreover, atrogin-1 attenuates agonist-induced calcineurin activity and represses calcineurin-dependent transactivation and NFATc4 translocation. Conversely, downregulation of atrogin-1 using adenoviral small interfering RNA (siRNA) expression enhances agonist-induced calcineurin activity and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Consistent with these cellular observations, overexpression of atrogin-1 in hearts of transgenic mice reduces calcineurin protein levels and blunts cardiac hypertrophy after banding of the thoracic aorta. These studies indicate that the SCF atrogin-1 ubiquitin ligase complex interacts with and represses calcineurin by targeting calcineurin for ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, leading to inhibition of cardiac hypertrophy in response to pathologic stimuli.

CHIP, carboxy terminus of Hsc70 interacting protein, is a cytoplasmic protein whose amino acid sequence is highly conserved across species. It is most highly expressed in cardiac and skeletal muscle and brain. The primary amino acid sequence is characterized by 3 domains, a tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) domain at its amino terminus, a U-box domain at its carboxy terminus, and an intervening charged domain. CHIP interacts with the molecular chaperones Hsc70-Hsp70 and Hsp90 through its TPR domain, whereas its U-box domain contains its E3 ubiquitin ligase activity. Its interaction with these molecular chaperones results in client substrate ubiquitylation and degradation by the proteasome. Thus, CHIP acts to tilt the folding-refolding machinery toward the degradative pathway, and it serves as a link between the two. Because protein degradation is required for healthy cellular function, CHIP's ability to degrade proteins that are the signature of disease, eg, ErbB2 in breast and ovarian cancers, could prove to be a point of therapeutic intervention.

contributed equally to this work Induction of molecular chaperones is the characteristic protective response to environmental stress, and is regulated by a transcriptional program that depends on heat shock factor 1 (HSF1), which is normally under negative regulatory control by molecular chaperones Hsp70 and Hsp90. In metazoan species, the chaperone system also provides protection against apoptosis. We demonstrate that the dual function cochaperone/ubiquitin ligase CHIP (C-terminus of Hsp70-interacting protein) regulates activation of the stress-chaperone response through induced trimerization and transcriptional activation of HSF1, and is required for protection against stress-induced apoptosis in murine ®broblasts. The consequences of this function are demonstrated by the phenotype of mice lacking CHIP, which develop normally but are temperature-sensitive and develop apoptosis in multiple organs after environmental challenge. CHIP exerts a central and unique role in tuning the response to stress at multiple levels by regulation of protein quality control and transcriptional activation of stress response signaling.

Muscle-specific RING finger protein 1 (MuRF1) is a sarcomereassociated protein that is restricted to cardiac and skeletal muscle. In skeletal muscle, MuRF1 is up-regulated by conditions that provoke atrophy, but its function in the heart is not known. The presence of a RING finger in MuRF1 raises the possibility that it is a component of the ubiquitin-proteasome system of protein degradation. We performed a yeast two-hybrid screen to search for interaction partners of MuRF1 in the heart that might be targets of its putative ubiquitin ligase activity. This screen identified troponin I as a MuRF1 partner protein. MuRF1 and troponin I were found to associate both in vitro and in vivo in cultured cardiomyocytes. MuRF1 reduced steady-state troponin I levels when coexpressed in COS-7 cells and increased degradation of endogenous troponin I protein in cardiomyocytes. The degradation of troponin I in cardiomyocytes was associated with the accumulation of ubiquitylated intermediates of troponin I and was proteasome-dependent. In vitro, MuRF1 functioned as a ubiquitin ligase to catalyze ubiquitylation of troponin I through a RING finger-dependent mechanism. In isolated cardiomyocytes, MuRF1 reduced indices of contractility. In cardiomyocytes, these processes may determine the balance between hypertrophic and antihypertrophic signals and the regulation of myocyte contractile responses in the setting of heart failure.

Cardiac hypertrophy is a major cause of human morbidity and mortality. Although much is known about the pathways that promote hypertrophic responses, mechanisms that antagonize these pathways have not been as clearly defined. Atrogin-1, also known as muscle atrophy F-box, is an F-box protein that inhibits pathologic cardiac hypertrophy by participating in a ubiquitin ligase complex that triggers degradation of calcineurin, a factor involved in promotion of pathologic hypertrophy. Here we demonstrated that atrogin-1 also disrupted Akt-dependent pathways responsible for physiologic cardiac hypertrophy. Our results indicate that atrogin-1 does not affect the activity of Akt itself, but serves as a coactivator for members of the Forkhead family of transcription factors that function downstream of Akt. This coactivator function of atrogin-1 was dependent on its ubiquitin ligase activity and the deposition of polyubiquitin chains on lysine 63 of Foxo1 and Foxo3a. Transgenic mice expressing atrogin-1 in the heart displayed increased Foxo1 ubiquitylation and upregulation of known Forkhead target genes concomitant with suppression of cardiac hypertrophy, while mice lacking atrogin-1 displayed the opposite physiologic phenotype. These experiments define a role for lysine 63-linked ubiquitin chains in transcriptional coactivation and demonstrate that atrogin-1 uses this mechanism to disrupt physiologic cardiac hypertrophic signaling through its effects on Forkhead transcription factors. IntroductionFactors that increase LV afterload - such as hypertension, aortic stenosis, and age-related arterial stiffness - elicit cardiac hypertrophy as an adaptive mechanism to normalize wall stress. The shortterm hemodynamic benefits of hypertrophy occur at a cost: cardiac hypertrophy leads to diastolic dysfunction and heart failure and is a powerful predictor of cardiovascular mortality even in the absence of symptoms (1, 2). At the cellular level, cardiac hypertrophy is a consequence of increased cardiomyocyte cell volume (1, 2), a process that requires coordination of cellular signaling cascades, activation of fetal cardiac gene expression programs, increased protein synthesis, sarcomere assembly, and modulation of cellular energy sources. At the present time, no specific pharmacologic strategies to reverse cardiac hypertrophy have been approved for clinical use, so the delineation of hypertrophic mechanisms (especially those that prevent or reverse hypertrophy) remains a priority.Although complexity and redundancy exist in the signaling pathways that activate cardiac hypertrophy, 2 independent circuits that elicit distinct manifestations of hypertrophy are now recognized. Hypertrophy in response to stimuli such as pressure overload and adrenergic stimulation activates the calcineurin/ nuclear factor of activated T cell-dependent signaling pathway, resulting in so-called "pathological" hypertrophy that is associated with maladaptive features such as fibrosis, chamber dilatation,

Gordon Holmes syndrome (GHS) is a rare Mendelian neurodegenerative disorder characterized by ataxia and hypogonadism. Recently, it was suggested that disordered ubiquitination underlies GHS though the discovery of exome mutations in the E3 ligase RNF216 and deubiquitinase OTUD4. We performed exome sequencing in a family with two of three siblings afflicted with ataxia and hypogonadism and identified a homozygous mutation in STUB1 (NM_005861) c.737C→T, p.Thr246Met, a gene that encodes the protein CHIP (C-terminus of HSC70-interacting protein). CHIP plays a central role in regulating protein quality control, in part through its ability to function as an E3 ligase. Loss of CHIP function has long been associated with protein misfolding and aggregation in several genetic mouse models of neurodegenerative disorders; however, a role for CHIP in human neurological disease has yet to be identified. Introduction of the Thr246Met mutation into CHIP results in a loss of ubiquitin ligase activity measured directly using recombinant proteins as well as in cell culture models. Loss of CHIP function in mice resulted in behavioral and reproductive impairments that mimic human ataxia and hypogonadism. We conclude that GHS can be caused by a loss-of-function mutation in CHIP. Our findings further highlight the role of disordered ubiquitination and protein quality control in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease and demonstrate the utility of combining whole-exome sequencing with molecular analyses and animal models to define causal disease polymorphisms.

Calcineurin, which binds to the Z-disc in cardiomyocytes via α-actinin, promotes cardiac hypertrophy in response to numerous pathologic stimuli. However, the endogenous mechanisms regulating calcineurin activity in cardiac muscle are not well understood. We demonstrate that a muscle-specific F-box protein called atrogin-1, or muscle atrophy F-box, directly interacts with calcineurin A and α-actinin-2 at the Z-disc of cardiomyocytes. Atrogin-1 associates with Skp1, Cul1, and Roc1 to assemble an SCF atrogin-1 complex with ubiquitin ligase activity. Expression of atrogin-1 decreases levels of calcineurin A and promotes its ubiquitination. Moreover, atrogin-1 attenuates agonist-induced calcineurin activity and represses calcineurin-dependent transactivation and NFATc4 translocation. Conversely, downregulation of atrogin-1 using adenoviral small interfering RNA (siRNA) expression enhances agonist-induced calcineurin activity and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. Consistent with these cellular observations, overexpression of atrogin-1 in hearts of transgenic mice reduces calcineurin protein levels and blunts cardiac hypertrophy after banding of the thoracic aorta. These studies indicate that the SCF atrogin-1 ubiquitin ligase complex interacts with and represses calcineurin by targeting calcineurin for ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, leading to inhibition of cardiac hypertrophy in response to pathologic stimuli.