Neurodegenerative diseases characterized by aberrant accumulation of undigested cellular components represent unmet medical conditions for which the identification of actionable targets is urgently needed. Here we identify a pharmacologically actionable pathway that controls cellular clearance via Akt modulation of transcription factor EB (TFEB), a master regulator of lysosomal pathways. We show that Akt phosphorylates TFEB at Ser467 and represses TFEB nuclear translocation independently of mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1), a known TFEB inhibitor. The autophagy enhancer trehalose activates TFEB by diminishing Akt activity. Administration of trehalose to a mouse model of Batten disease, a prototypical neurodegenerative disease presenting with intralysosomal storage, enhances clearance of proteolipid aggregates, reduces neuropathology and prolongs survival of diseased mice. Pharmacological inhibition of Akt promotes cellular clearance in cells from patients with a variety of lysosomal diseases, thus suggesting broad applicability of this approach. These findings open new perspectives for the clinical translation of TFEB-mediated enhancement of cellular clearance in neurodegenerative storage diseases.

The progression of tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease follows a stereotyped pattern, and recent evidence suggests a role of synaptic connections in this process. Astrocytes are well positioned at the neuronal synapse to capture and degrade extracellular tau as it transits the synapse and hence could potentially have the ability to inhibit tau spreading and delay disease progression. Our study shows increased expression and activity of Transcription Factor EB (TFEB), a master regulator of lysosomal biogenesis, in response to tau pathology in both human brains with dementia and transgenic mouse models. Exogenous TFEB expression in primary astrocytes enhances tau fibril uptake and lysosomal activity, while TFEB knockout has the reverse effect. In vivo, induced TFEB expression in astrocytes reduces pathology in the hippocampus of PS19 tauopathy mice, as well as prominently attenuates tau spreading from the ipsilateral to the contralateral hippocampus in a mouse model of tau spreading. Our study suggests that astrocytic TFEB plays a functional role in modulating extracellular tau and the propagation of neuronal tau pathology in tauopathies such as Alzheimer's disease.

This review focuses on the pathways that regulate lysosome biogenesis and that are implicated in numerous degenerative storage diseases, including lysosomal storage disorders and late-onset neurodegenerative diseases. Lysosomal proteins are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum and trafficked to the endolysosomal system through the secretory route. Several receptors have been characterized that execute post-Golgi trafficking of lysosomal proteins. Some of them recognize their cargo proteins based on specific amino acid signatures, others based on a particular glycan modification that is exclusively found on lysosomal proteins. Nearly all receptors serving lysosome biogenesis are under the transcriptional control of transcription factor EB (TFEB), a master regulator of the lysosomal system. TFEB coordinates the expression of lysosomal hydrolases, lysosomal membrane proteins, and autophagy proteins in response to pathways sensing lysosomal stress and the nutritional conditions of the cell among other stimuli. TFEB is primed for activation in lysosomal storage disorders but surprisingly its function is impaired in some late-onset neurodegenerative storage diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, because of specific detrimental interactions that limit TFEB expression or activation. Thus, disrupted TFEB function presumably plays a role in the pathogenesis of these diseases. Multiple studies in animal models of degenerative storage diseases have shown that exogenous expression of TFEB and pharmacological activation of endogenous TFEB attenuate disease phenotypes. These results highlight TFEB-mediated enhancement of lysosomal biogenesis and function as a candidate strategy to counteract the progression of these diseases. This article is part of the Special Issue "Lysosomal Storage Disorders".

Organelle biogenesis requires proper transport of proteins from their site of synthesis to their target subcellular compartment 1 – 3 . Lysosomal enzymes are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and traffic through the Golgi complex before being transferred to the endolysosomal system 4 – 6 , but how they are transferred from the ER to the Golgi is unknown. Here we show that ER-to-Golgi transfer of lysosomal enzymes requires CLN8, an ER-associated membrane protein whose loss of function leads to the lysosomal storage disorder, Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis 8 (a type of Batten disease) 7 . ER-to-Golgi trafficking of CLN8 requires interaction with the COPII and COPI machineries via specific export and retrieval signals localized in the cytosolic C-terminus of CLN8. CLN8 deficiency leads to depletion of soluble enzymes in the lysosome, thus impairing lysosome biogenesis. Binding to lysosomal enzymes requires CLN8’s second luminal loop and is abolished by some disease-causing mutations within this region. Our data establish an unanticipated example of an ER receptor serving the biogenesis of an organelle and suggest that impaired transport of lysosomal enzymes underlies Batten disease caused by mutations in CLN8 .

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Germ granules are biomolecular condensates that form in germ cells of all/most animals, where they regulate mRNA expression to promote germ cell function and totipotency. In the adult Caenorhabditis elegans germ cell, these granules are composed of at least four distinct sub-compartments, one of which is the Z granule. To better understand the role of the Z granule in germ cell biology, we conducted a genetic screen for genes specifically required for Z granule assembly or morphology. Here, we show that zsp-1, which encodes a low-complexity/polyampholyte-domain protein, is required for Z granule homeostasis. ZSP-1 localizes to the outer surface of Z granules. In the absence of ZSP-1, Z granules swell to an abnormal size, fail to segregate with germline blastomeres during development, and lose their liquid-like character. Finally, ZSP-1 promotes piRNA-and siRNA-directed gene regulation and germline immortality. Our data suggest that Z granules coordinate small RNA-based gene regulation to promote germ cell function and that ZSP-1 helps/is need to maintain Z granule morphology and liquidity.

Oxidative stress and aberrant accumulation of misfolded proteins in the cytosol are key pathological features associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). NADPH oxidase (Nox2) is upregulated in the pathogenesis of PD; however, the underlying mechanism(s) of Nox2-mediated oxidative stress in PD pathogenesis are still unknown. Using a rotenone-inducible cellular model of PD, we observed that a short exposure to rotenone (0.5 μM) resulted in impaired autophagic flux through activation of a Nox2 dependent Src/PI3K/Akt axis, with a consequent disruption of a Beclin1-VPS34 interaction that was independent of mTORC1 activity. Sustained exposure to rotenone at a higher dose (10 μM) decreased mTORC1 activity; however, autophagic flux was still impaired due to dysregulation of lysosomal activity with subsequent induction of the apoptotic machinery. Cumulatively, our results highlight a complex pathogenic mechanism for PD where short-and long-term oxidative stress alters different signaling pathways, ultimately resulting in anomalous autophagic activity and disease phenotype. Inhibition of Nox2-dependent oxidative stress attenuated the impaired autophagy and cell death, highlighting the importance and therapeutic potential of these pathways for treating patients with PD.Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play pivotal roles in regulating signaling molecules, but when in excess they induce oxidative stress; which has been implicated as a key pathological factor in "sporadic" forms of Parkinson's disease (PD) and other neurodegenerative diseases. Environmental toxins, such as rotenone, have been well-established as causal agents of sporadic form of PD due to its ability to generate reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/ RNS) 1 . Previous work has shown that oxidative stress impairs autophagic flux and decreases lysosomal biogenesis and function in animal models of PD 2,3 . Up-regulation of NADPH oxidase (Nox2), a major superoxide-producing enzyme complex 4 , has recently been associated with PD pathogenesis in human patients and animal models 5 . Shacka and colleagues suggest that rotenone-induced oxidative stress impairs autophagic flux and promotes accumulation of protein aggregates in an in vitro model of PD 6 . We and others have recently demonstrated the ability of rotenone to induce oxidative stress via activation of the Nox2 complex [7][8][9] . We have also shown that enhanced Nox2-dependent ROS production drives impaired autophagic flux and lysosomal dysfunction by activation of Src/PI3K/mTORC1 pathway in a mouse model of muscle degeneration 10 . The classical paradigm of autophagy in mammalian cells involves ULK1, a key pro-autophagy adapter kinase essential to the nucleation of the autophagophore membrane. Activation of the serine/threonine kinase mTORC1 inhibits autophagy through phosphorylation of ULK1 at S757, thus subsequent inhibition of ULK1 activity 11 . The energy sensitive AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK) promotes autophagy, in an mTORC1-independent manner, by directly activating ULK1 through

Lysosomal enzymes are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and transferred to the Golgi complex by interaction with the Batten disease protein CLN8. Here we investigated the relationship of this pathway with CLN6, an ER-associated protein of unknown function that is defective in a different Batten disease subtype. Experiments focused on protein interaction and trafficking identified CLN6 as an obligate component of a CLN6-CLN8 complex (herein referred to as EGRESS: ER-to-Golgi relaying of enzymes of the lysosomal system) which recruits lysosomal enzymes at the ER to promote their Golgi transfer. Simultaneous deficiency of CLN6 and CLN8 did not aggravate mouse pathology compared to the single deficiencies, indicating that the EGRESS complex works as a functional unit. Mutagenesis experiments showed that the second luminal loop of CLN6 is required for the interaction of CLN6 with the enzymes but dispensable for interaction with CLN8, and in vitro and in vivo studies showed that CLN6 deficiency results in inefficient ER export of lysosomal enzymes and diminished levels of the enzymes at the lysosome. These results identify CLN6 and the EGRESS complex as key players in lysosome biogenesis and shed light on the molecular etiology of Batten disease caused by defects in CLN6.