Metabolically Regulated Endoplasmic Reticulum-associated Degradation of 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA Reductase

Abstract

In mammalian cells, the enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutarylcoenzyme A reductase (HMGR), which catalyzes the rate-limiting step in the mevalonate pathway, is ubiquitylated and degraded by the 26 S proteasome when mevalonate-derived metabolites accumulate, representing a case of metabolically regulated endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD). Here, we studied which mevalonate-derived metabolites signal for HMGR degradation and the ERAD step(s) in which these metabolites are required. In HMGR-deficient UT-2 cells that stably express HMGal, a chimeric protein between ␤-galactosidase and the membrane region of HMGR, which is necessary and sufficient for the regulated ERAD, we tested inhibitors specific to different steps in the mevalonate pathway. We found that metabolites downstream of farnesyl pyrophosphate but upstream to lanosterol were highly effective in initiating ubiquitylation, dislocation, and degradation of HMGal. Similar results were observed for endogenous HMGR in cells that express this protein. Ubiquitylation, dislocation, and proteasomal degradation of HMGal were severely hampered when production of geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate was inhibited. Importantly, inhibition of protein geranylgeranylation markedly attenuated ubiquitylation and dislocation, implicating for the first time a geranylgeranylated protein(s) in the metabolically regulated ERAD of HMGR.Mammalian cells satisfy most of their cholesterol requirements through receptor-mediated endocytosis of cholesterolrich plasma lipoproteins. However, when exogenous cholesterol supply is short, or when there is an increased demand for particular nonsterol isoprenoid(s), cells up-regulate the activity of the mevalonate (MVA) 3 pathway ( Fig. 1), in which sterols and essential MVA-derived nonsterol isoprenoids are produced (1, 2). Intracellular MVA levels are finely tuned and tightly regulated by a feedback mechanism that governs the rate of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reduction into MVA, the major rate-limiting step for the entire pathway (3, 4). This reaction is catalyzed by HMG-CoA reductase (HMGR), an integral glycoprotein resident to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Each of the 97-kDa subunits of HMGR is embedded in the ER membrane via a ϳ350 residue N-terminal noncatalytic region that spans the membrane 8 times (5-7), whereas the rest of the polypeptide faces the cytosol where it tetramerizes to form the active sites of the enzyme (5, 8, 9). To allow sufficient production of isoprenoids yet avoid overaccumulation of potentially toxic products, the activity of HMGR is stringently controlled and varies according to the cellular needs for sterol and the nonsterol products. HMGR activity increases when cells are starved for cholesterol or MVA. Conversely, abundant cholesterol and/or MVA acutely suppress the enzyme (4, 10). At the post-translational level, regulation of HMGR mainly involves modulation of its stability. Thus, in cells deprived of sterols and/or MVA, HMGR is a rather stable protein that turns over with a half-l...

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