A coiled-coil microtubule-bundling protein, p180, was originally reported as a ribosome-binding protein on the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and is highly expressed in secretory tissues. Recently, we reported a novel role for p180 in the transGolgi network (TGN) expansion following stimulated collagen secretion. Here, we show that p180 plays a key role in procollagen biosynthesis and secretion in diploid fibroblasts. Depletion of p180 caused marked reductions of secreted collagens without significant loss of the ER membrane or mRNA. Metabolic labeling experiments revealed that the procollagen biosynthetic activity was markedly affected following p180 depletion. Moreover, loss of p180 perturbs ascorbate-stimulated de novo biosynthesis mainly in the membrane fraction with a preferential secretion defect of large proteins. At the EM level, one of the most prominent morphological features of p180-depleted cells was insufficient ribosome association on the ER membranes. In contrast, the ER of control cells was studded with numerous ribosomes, which were further enhanced by ascorbate. Similarly biochemical analysis confirmed that levels of membrane-bound ribosomes were altered in a p180-dependent manner. Taken together, our data suggest that p180 plays crucial roles in enhancing collagen biosynthesis at the entry site of the secretory compartments by a novel mechanism that mainly involves facilitating ribosome association on the ER.
Entry of proteins into the secretory pathway via the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER)3 is essential for intracellular transport of proteins to secretory compartments within the cell and finally to the extracellular milieu. In tissues with high secretory activity, such as the pancreas, the secretory apparatus is highly developed. One of the morphological hallmarks in such tissues is drastic proliferation of rough ER membranes that are densely occupied by ribosomes, whereas the rough ER in other tissues forms a loose network of tubular cisternae sparsely studded with ribosomes (1). However, the molecular basis for the biogenesis and proliferation of the rough ER in secretory tissues is largely unknown (1, 2).Collagen is one of the major components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in connective tissues such as skin, tendon, and bone. It is synthesized on the ER membrane as a precursor form, i.e. procollagen, and secreted by professional secretory cells including fibroblasts. Fully consistent with the normal secretory pathway, procollagen is cotranslationally translocated into the lumen of the ER. Much interest has been focused on the mechanisms of its folding and trimerization processes in the ER, such as the hydroxylation enzymes for proline and lysine residues (reviewed in Refs. 3 and 4)). Recently, there has been considerable interest in the intracellular trafficking mechanism of procollagen as a representative model for supramolecular cargos (5-7). In addition, the regulation of procollagen biosynthesis has been intensively studied at the transcriptional level (8, 9) as well as at the...