Lysosomes respond to environmental cues by controlling their own biogenesis, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we describe a protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent and mTORC1-independent mechanism for regulating lysosome biogenesis, which provides insights into previously reported effects of PKC on lysosomes. By identifying lysosome-inducing compounds we show that PKC couples activation of the TFEB transcription factor with inactivation of the ZKSCAN3 transcriptional repressor through two parallel signalling cascades. Activated PKC inactivates GSK3β, leading to reduced phosphorylation, nuclear translocation and activation of TFEB, while PKC activates JNK and p38 MAPK, which phosphorylate ZKSCAN3, leading to its inactivation by translocation out of the nucleus. PKC activation may therefore mediate lysosomal adaptation to many extracellular cues. PKC activators facilitate clearance of aggregated proteins and lipid droplets in cell models and ameliorate amyloid β plaque formation in APP/PS1 mouse brains. Thus, PKC activators are viable treatment options for lysosome-related disorders.
The mechanisms and determinants preserving lysosomal membrane stability are unclear. Here, Li et al. show that the lysosomal membrane protein SCAV-3, the Caenorhabditis elegans homologue of human LIMP-2, is a key regulator of lysosome integrity and normal adult lifespan.
Immotile spermatids produced in the testis must undergo a series of poorly understood morphological, physiological and biochemical processes called sperm activation to become motile, fertilization-competent spermatozoa. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the spe-8 group contains sperm-specific genes active in both males and hermaphrodites, although their activity is required only for hermaphrodite self-sperm activation. The activating signal upstream of the SPE-8 signaling cascade remains unknown. Here, we show that the micronutrient zinc is sufficient to trigger sperm activation in vitro, and that extracellular zinc induces the intracellular redistribution of labile zinc. We demonstrate that other activating signals promote the similar redistribution of labile zinc, indicating that zinc might have first and/or second messenger roles during sperm activation. Moreover, zinc-induced sperm activation is SPE-8 pathway dependent. Labile zinc was enriched in the spermatheca, the normal site for self-sperm activation in hermaphrodites. High levels of zinc were also found in the secretory cells in the male gonad, suggesting that zinc might be secreted from these cells during copulation and become a component of seminal fluid, to modulate sperm activation post-copulation. These data indicate that zinc regulates sperm activation in both male and hermaphrodite C. elegans, a finding with important implications for understanding hermaphroditic evolution.
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