Hippo-Lats-Yorkie signaling regulates tissue overgrowth and tumorigenesis in Drosophila. We show that the Mst1 and Mst2 protein kinases, the mammalian Hippo orthologs, are cleaved and constitutively activated in the mouse liver. Combined Mst1/2 deficiency in the liver results in loss of inhibitory Ser127 phosphorylation of the Yorkie ortholog, Yap1, massive overgrowth, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Reexpression of Mst1 in HCC-derived cell lines promotes Yap1 Ser127 phosphorylation and inactivation, and abrogates their tumorigenicity. Notably, Mst1/2 inactivates Yap1 in liver through an intermediary kinase distinct from Lats1/2. Approximately 30% of human HCCs show low Yap1(Ser127) phosphorylation and a majority exhibit loss of cleaved, activated Mst1. Mst1/2 inhibition of Yap1 is an important pathway for tumor suppression in liver relevant to human HCC. Significance The pathways that regulate quiescence and tumor suppression in the liver have not been fully elucidated. We show that the Mst1 and Mst2 kinases are tumor suppressors and regulators of liver size in adults and that negative regulation of the transcriptional coactivator, Yap1, is central to Mst1/2 tumor suppressor function. Loss of both Mst1 and Mst2 is sufficient to initiate hepatocyte proliferation, resulting in dramatic liver overgrowth, resistance to pro-apoptotic stimuli, and the development of HCC. Mst1 and Mst2 promote phosphorylation of Yap1 and thereby suppress its oncogenic activity. Mst1/2 regulation of Yap1 is tissue-specific and, in the liver, involves an Mst1/2-regulated Yap1 kinase distinct from Lats1/2. Significantly, the Mst-Yap1 pathway is disrupted in a substantial fraction of human HCCs.

Ablation of the kinases Mst1 and Mst2, orthologs of the Drosophila antiproliferative kinase Hippo, from mouse intestinal epithelium caused marked expansion of an undifferentiated stem cell compartment and loss of secretory cells throughout the small and large intestine. Although median survival of mice lacking intestinal Mst1/ Mst2 is 13 wk, adenomas of the distal colon are common by this age. Diminished phosphorylation, enhanced abundance, and nuclear localization of the transcriptional coactivator Yes-associated protein 1 (Yap1) is evident in Mst1/Mst2-deficient intestinal epithelium, as is strong activation of β-catenin and Notch signaling. Although biallelic deletion of Yap1 from intestinal epithelium has little effect on intestinal development, inactivation of a single Yap1 allele reduces Yap1 polypeptide abundance to nearly wild-type levels and, despite the continued Yap hypophosphorylation and preferential nuclear localization, normalizes epithelial structure. Thus, supraphysiologic Yap polypeptide levels are necessary to drive intestinal stem cell proliferation. Yap is overexpressed in 68 of 71 human colon cancers and in at least 30 of 36 colon cancer-derived cell lines. In colon-derived cell lines where Yap is overabundant, its depletion strongly reduces β-catenin and Notch signaling and inhibits proliferation and survival. These findings demonstrate that Mst1 and Mst2 actively suppress Yap1 abundance and action in normal intestinal epithelium, an antiproliferative function that frequently is overcome in colon cancer through Yap1 polypeptide overabundance. The dispensability of Yap1 in normal intestinal homeostasis and its potent proliferative and prosurvival actions when overexpressed in colon cancer make it an attractive therapeutic target.

Global warming is intensifying interest in the physiological consequences of temperature change in ectotherms, but we still have a relatively poor understanding of the effects of temperature on early life stages. This study determined how embryonic temperature (T E ) affects development and the activity of metabolic enzymes in the swimming muscle of zebrafish. Embryos developed successfully to hatching (survival ≥88%) from 22 to 32°C, but suffered sharp increases in mortality outside of this range. Embryos that were incubated until hatching at a control T E (27°C) or near the extremes for successful development (22 or 32°C) were next raised to adulthood under control conditions at 27°C. Growth trajectories after hatching were altered in the 22°C and 32°C T E groups compared with 27°C T E controls, but growth slowed after 3 months of age in all groups. Maximal enzyme activities of cytochrome c oxidase (COX), citrate synthase (CS), hydroxyacyl-coA dehydrogenase (HOAD), pyruvate kinase (PK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were measured across a range of assay temperatures (22, 27, 32 and 36°C) in adults from each T E group that were acclimated to 27 or 32°C. Substrate affinities (K m ) were also determined for COX and LDH. In adult fish acclimated to 27°C, COX and PK activities were higher in 22°C and 32°C T E groups than in 27°C T E controls, and the temperature optimum for COX activity was higher in the 32°C T E group than in the 22°C T E group. Warm acclimation reduced COX, CS and/or PK activities in the 22 and 32°C T E groups, possibly to compensate for thermal effects on molecular activity. This response did not occur in the 27°C T E controls, which instead increased LDH and HOAD activities. Warm acclimation also increased thermal sensitivity (Q 10 ) of HOAD to cool temperatures across all T E groups. We conclude that the temperature experienced during early development can have a persistent impact on energy metabolism pathways and acclimation capacity in later life.

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