The sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) family of transcription factors controls cholesterol and lipid metabolism. The nuclear forms of these proteins are rapidly degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, but the signals and factors required for this are unknown. Here, we identify a phosphodegron in SREBP1a that serves as a recognition motif for the SCF(Fbw7) ubiquitin ligase. Fbw7 interacts with nuclear SREBP1a and enhances its ubiquitination and degradation in a manner dependent on the phosphorylation of T426 and S430 by GSK-3. Fbw7 also degrades nuclear SREBP1c and SREBP2, and inactivation of endogenous Fbw7 results in stabilization of nuclear SREBP1 and -2, enhanced expression of SREBP target genes, enhanced synthesis of cholesterol and fatty acids, and enhanced receptor-mediated uptake of LDL. Thus, our results suggest that Fbw7 may be a major regulator of lipid metabolism through control of the phosphorylation-dependent degradation of the SREBP family of transcription factors.

Dynamin (Dyn) is a multifunctional GTPase implicated in several cellular events, including endocytosis, intracellular trafficking, cell signaling, and cytokinesis. The mammalian genome encodes three isoforms, Dyn1, Dyn2, and Dyn3, and several splice variants of each, leading to the suggestion that distinct isoforms and/or distinct splice variants might mediate distinct cellular functions. We generated a conditional Dyn2 KO cell line and performed knockout and reconstitution experiments to explore the isoform-and splice variant specific cellular functions of ubiquitously expressed Dyn2. We find that Dyn2 is required for clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME), p75 export from the Golgi, and PDGFstimulated macropinocytosis and cytokinesis, but not for other endocytic pathways. Surprisingly, CME and p75 exocytosis were efficiently rescued by reintroduction of Dyn2, but not Dyn1, suggesting that these two isoforms function differentially in vesicular trafficking in nonneuronal cells. Both isoforms rescued macropinocytosis and cytokinesis, suggesting that dynamin function in these processes might be mechanistically distinct from its role in CME. Although all four Dyn2 splice variants could equally restore CME, Dyn2ba and -bb were more effective at restoring p75 exocytosis. This splice variant specificity correlated with their differential targeting to the Golgi. These studies reveal isoform and splice-variant specific functions for Dyn2. INTRODUCTIONDynamin (Dyn) is an ϳ100-kDa multidomain GTPase that was first identified as a microtubule binding and bundling protein (Shpetner and Vallee, 1989). Subsequently, dynamin was found to be the mammalian homologue of the Drosophila protein shibire, mutations in which block endocytosis, including synaptic vesicle recycling (Chen et al., 1991;van der Bliek and Meyerowitz, 1991). Dynamin is conserved throughout higher eukaryotes. There is a single gene in Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans, but there are three dynamin isoforms in mammals: Dyn1, which is specifically expressed in neurons; Dyn2, which is ubiquitously expressed; and Dyn3, which is mainly expressed in the brain and testes (Urrutia et al., 1997, Ferguson et al., 2007.The best-studied cellular function of dynamin is its involvement in clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME; Hinshaw, 2000;Sever et al., 2000;Praefcke and McMahon, 2004). However, dynamin has also been implicated in several other membrane-trafficking events including both caveolae-mediated and clathrin-and caveolin-independent endocytic pathways Oh et al., 1998;Lamaze et al., 2001;Pelkmans et al., 2002), phagocytosis (Gold et al., 1999;Yu et al., 2006), macropinocytosis (Schlunck et al., 2004), and trafficking from the trans-Golgi network (TGN; Jones et al., 1998;Kreitzer et al., 2000;Bonazzi et al., 2005). Because these functions have mostly emerged from studying the effects of overexpression of dominant-negative dynamin mutants, they may reflect indirect or nonspecific effects. Moreover, it is not known whether different dynamin isoforms and/or splice varia...

The GTPase dynamin catalyzes the scission of deeply invaginated clathrin-coated pits at the plasma membrane, but the mechanisms governing dynamin-mediated membrane fission remain poorly understood. Through mutagenesis, we have altered the hydrophobic nature of the membrane-inserting variable loop 1 (VL1) of the pleckstrin homology (PH) domain of dynamin-1 and demonstrate that its stable insertion into the lipid bilayer is critical for high membrane curvature generation and subsequent membrane fission. Dynamin PH domain mutants defective in curvature generation regain function when assayed on precurved membrane templates in vitro, but they remain defective in the scission of clathrin-coated pits in vivo. These results demonstrate that, in concert with dynamin self-assembly, PH domain membrane insertion is essential for fission and vesicle release in vitro and for clathrin-mediated endocytosis in vivo.

Radiotherapy is one of the curative treatment options for localized prostate cancer (PCa). The curative potential of radiotherapy is mediated by irradiation-induced oxidative stress and DNA damage in tumor cells. However, PCa radiocurability can be impeded by tumor resistance mechanisms and normal tissue toxicity. Metabolic reprogramming is one of the major hallmarks of tumor progression and therapy resistance. Specific metabolic features of PCa might serve as therapeutic targets for tumor radiosensitization and as biomarkers for IvyspringInternational Publisher

Dynamin (Dyn) is a multidomain and multifunctional GTPase best known for its essential role in clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME). Dyn2 mutations have been linked to two human diseases, Centronuclear Myopathy (CNM) and Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease. Paradoxically, although Dyn2 is ubiquitously expressed and essential for embryonic development, the disease-associated Dyn2 mutants are autosomal dominant, but result in slowly progressing and tissue-specific diseases. Thus, although the cellular defects that cause disease remain unclear, they are expected to be mild. To gain new insight into potential pathogenic mechanisms we utilized mouse Dyn2 conditional knock-out cells combined with retroviral-mediated reconstitution to mimic both heterozygous and homozygous states and characterized cellular phenotypes using quantitative assays for several membrane trafficking events. Surprisingly, none of the four mutants studied exhibited a defect in CME, but all were impaired in their ability to support p75/neurotrophin receptor export from the Golgi, the raft-dependent endocytosis of cholera toxin, and clathrin-independent endocytosis of EGFR. While it will be important to study these mutants in disease-relevant muscle and neuronal cells, given the importance of neurotrophic factors and lipid rafts in muscle physiology, we speculate that these common cellular defects might contribute to the tissue-specific diseases caused by a ubiquitously expressed protein.