Cannon, Barbara, and Jan Nedergaard. Brown Adipose Tissue: Function and Physiological Significance. Physiol Rev 84: 277–359, 2004; 10.1152/physrev.00015.2003.—The function of brown adipose tissue i...

Brown Adipose Tissue: Function and Physiological Significance

http://www.nanotools.de/downloads/Atg5_LC3_Pankiv_et_al_JBC_Immuncyto.pdf

p62/SQSTM1 Binds Directly to Atg8/LC3 to Facilitate Degradation of Ubiquitinated Protein Aggregates by Autophagy

Protein degradation by basal constitutive autophagy is important to avoid accumulation of polyubiquitinated protein aggregates and development of neurodegenerative diseases. The polyubiquitin-binding protein p62/SQSTM1 is degraded by autophagy. It is found in cellular inclusion bodies together with polyubiquitinated proteins and in cytosolic protein aggregates that accumulate in various chronic, toxic, and degenerative diseases. Here we show for the first time a direct interaction between p62 and the autophagic effector proteins LC3A and -B and the related -aminobutyrate receptor-associated protein and-aminobutyrate receptor-associated-like proteins. The binding is mediated by a 22-residue sequence of p62 containing an evolutionarily conserved motif. To monitor the autophagic sequestration of p62- and LC3-positive bodies, we developed a novel pH-sensitive fluorescent tag consisting of a tandem fusion of the red, acid-insensitive mCherry and the acid-sensitive green fluorescent proteins. This approach revealed that p62- and LC3-positive bodies are degraded in autolysosomes. Strikingly, even rather large p62-positive inclusion bodies (2 m diameter) become degraded by autophagy. The specific interaction between p62 and LC3, requiring the motif we have mapped, is instrumental in mediating autophagic degradation of the p62-positive bodies. We also demonstrate that the previously reported aggresome-like induced structures containing ubiquitinated proteins in cytosolic bodies are dependent on p62 for their formation. In fact, p62 bodies and these structures are indistinguishable. Taken together, our results clearly suggest that p62 is required both for the formation and the degradation of polyubiquitin-containing bodies by autophagy.

p62/SQSTM1 Binds Directly to Atg8/LC3 to Facilitate Degradation of Ubiquitinated Protein Aggregates

Antigen-presenting cells contain a specialized late endocytic compartment, MIIC (major histocompatibility complex [MHC] class II-enriched compartment), that harbors newly synthesized MHC class II molecules in transit to the plasma membrane. MIICs have a limiting membrane enclosing characteristic internal membrane vesicles. Both the limiting membrane and the internal vesicles contain MHC class II. In this study on B lymphoblastoid cells, we demonstrate by immunoelectron microscopy that the limiting membrane of MIICs can fuse directly with the plasma membrane, resulting in release from the cells of internal MHC class II-containing vesicles. These secreted vesicles, named exosomes, were isolated from the cell culture media by differential centrifugation followed by flotation on sucrose density gradients. The overall surface protein composition of exosomes differed significantly from that of the plasma membrane. Exosome-bound MHC class II was in a compact, peptide-bound conformation. Metabolically labeled MHC class II was released into the extracellular medium with relatively slow kinetics, 10 +/- 4% in 24 h, indicating that direct fusion of MIICs with the plasma membrane is not the major pathway by which MHC class II reaches the plasma membrane. Exosomes derived from both human and murine B lymphocytes induced antigen-specific MHC class II-restricted T cell responses. These data suggest a role for exosomes in antigen presentation in vivo.

https://rupress.org/jem/article-pdf/183/3/1161/1107814/1161.pdf

B lymphocytes secrete antigen-presenting vesicles.

Autophagic degradation of ubiquitinated protein aggregates is important for cell survival, but it is not known how the autophagic machinery recognizes such aggregates. In this study, we report that polymerization of the polyubiquitin-binding protein p62/SQSTM1 yields protein bodies that either reside free in the cytosol and nucleus or occur within autophagosomes and lysosomal structures. Inhibition of autophagy led to an increase in the size and number of p62 bodies and p62 protein levels. The autophagic marker light chain 3 (LC3) colocalized with p62 bodies and coimmunoprecipitated with p62, suggesting that these two proteins participate in the same complexes. The depletion of p62 inhibited recruitment of LC3 to autophagosomes under starvation conditions. Strikingly, p62 and LC3 formed a shell surrounding aggregates of mutant huntingtin. Reduction of p62 protein levels or interference with p62 function significantly increased cell death that was induced by the expression of mutant huntingtin. We suggest that p62 may, via LC3, be involved in linking polyubiquitinated protein aggregates to the autophagy machinery.

/pdf/p62-sqstm1-forms-protein-aggregates-degraded-by-autophagy-22uh7pzrfh.pdf

p62/SQSTM1 forms protein aggregates degraded by autophagy and has a protective effect on huntingtin-induced cell death

Antibodies specific for the insulin-regulatable glucose transporter (GLUT 4) were used to immunolocalize this protein in brown adipose tissue from basal- and insulin-treated rats. Cryosections of fixed tissue were incubated with antibodies, which were subsequently labeled with Protein A/gold and examined by EM. Antibodies against albumin and cathepsin D were also used with gold particles of different sizes to identify early and late endosomes, respectively. Under basal conditions 99% of the GLUT 4 labeling was located within the cell. Labeling was predominantly in the trans-Golgi reticulum and tubulo-vesicular structures elsewhere in the cytoplasm. In insulin-stimulated cells approximately 40% of the GLUT 4 labeling was at the cell surface, where it was randomly distributed, except for occasional clustering in coated pits. Moreover, after insulin treatment, GLUT 4 was also enriched in early endosomes. We conclude that translocation of GLUT 4 to the cell surface is the major mechanism by which insulin increases glucose transport. In addition, these results suggest that in the presence of insulin GLUT 4 recycles from the cell surface, probably via the coated pit-endosome pathway that has been characterized for cell surface receptors, and also that insulin causes the redistribution of GLUT 4 by stimulating exocytosis from GLUT 4-containing tubulo-vesicular structures, rather than by slowing endocytosis of GLUT 4.

/pdf/immuno-localization-of-the-insulin-regulatable-glucose-33gv1b6w07.pdf

Immuno-localization of the insulin regulatable glucose transporter in brown adipose tissue of the rat

The insulin-regulated glucose transporter GLUT4 was immunolocalized in rat cardiac muscle under conditions of basal and stimulated glucose uptake, achieved by fasting and a combined exercise/insulin stimulus, respectively. In basal myocytes there was very little (less than 1%) GLUT4 in the different domains of the plasma membrane (sarcolemma, intercalated disk, and transverse tubular system). GLUT4 was localized in small tubulo-vesicular elements that occur predominantly near the sarcolemma and the transverse tubular system and in the trans-Golgi region. Upon stimulation approximately 42% of GLUT4 was found in the plasma membrane. Each domain of the plasma membrane contributed equally to this effect. GLUT4-positive, clathrin-coated pits were also present at each cell surface domain. The remainder of the labeling was in tubulo-vesicular elements at the same sites as in basal cells and in the intercalated disk areas. The localization of GLUT4 in cardiac myocytes is essentially the same as in brown adipocytes, skeletal muscle, and white adipocytes. We conclude that increased glucose transport in muscle and fat is accounted for by translocation of GLUT4 from the intracellular tubulo-vesicular elements to the plasma membrane. The labeling of coated pits indicates that in stimulated myocytes, as in adipocytes, GLUT4 recycles constantly between the endosomal compartment and the plasma membrane and that stimulation of the exocytotic rate constant is likely the major mechanism for GLUT4 translocation.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/88/17/7815.full.pdf

Sander Gigengack

Papers

Immuno-localization of the insulin regulatable glucose transporter in brown adipose tissue of the rat

Translocation of the glucose transporter GLUT4 in cardiac myocytes of the rat.