Skip to main content
eLife logoLink to eLife
. 2018 Apr 6;7:e34532. doi: 10.7554/eLife.34532

Proteasome storage granules protect proteasomes from autophagic degradation upon carbon starvation

Richard S Marshall 1, Richard D Vierstra 1,
Editor: Raymond J Deshaies2
PMCID: PMC5947986  PMID: 29624167

Abstract

26S proteasome abundance is tightly regulated at multiple levels, including the elimination of excess or inactive particles by autophagy. In yeast, this proteaphagy occurs upon nitrogen starvation but not carbon starvation, which instead stimulates the rapid sequestration of proteasomes into cytoplasmic puncta termed proteasome storage granules (PSGs). Here, we show that PSGs help protect proteasomes from autophagic degradation. Both the core protease and regulatory particle sub-complexes are sequestered separately into PSGs via pathways dependent on the accessory proteins Blm10 and Spg5, respectively. Modulating PSG formation, either by perturbing cellular energy status or pH, or by genetically eliminating factors required for granule assembly, not only influences the rate of proteasome degradation, but also impacts cell viability upon recovery from carbon starvation. PSG formation and concomitant protection against proteaphagy also occurs in Arabidopsis, suggesting that PSGs represent an evolutionarily conserved cache of proteasomes that can be rapidly re-mobilized based on energy availability.

Research organism: A. thaliana, S. cerevisiae

eLife digest

Proteins perform many jobs within an organism, including providing structure and support, and protecting against infection. The levels of the many proteins in a cell need to be carefully controlled so that the correct amounts are present at the right place and time to perform these tasks. This control can be achieved by balancing the production of new proteins with the break down (or degradation) of proteins that are no longer required or become dysfunctional.

Most cells have two pathways for degrading proteins. One pathway breaks down individual proteins specifically marked for elimination; this causes them to be recognized by a structure called the proteasome, which chops proteins into smaller pieces. Larger protein assemblies – including the proteasome itself – are to big for the proteasome and thus need to be degraded by another pathway called autophagy. This process engulfs and delivers parts of a cell to a membrane-bound compartment called the vacuole, which ‘digests’ and recycles these larger constituents.

Proteasomes are degraded by autophagy when they are not working correctly and when nitrogen (a crucial nutrient) is in short supply. However, proteasomes are not degraded when cells lack carbon, even though this starvation is known to activate autophagy in the same way that an absence of nitrogen does. So how do proteasomes escape degradation when cells are starved for carbon?

Marshall and Vierstra now show that upon carbon starvation, proteasomes rapidly exit the cell nucleus and cluster together in the main part of the cell (termed the cytosol). These clusters are known as proteasome storage granules (PSGs). In fungi and plants, mutations or conditions inside the cell that make it difficult for PSGs to assemble cause proteasomes to instead be broken down in the vacuole when carbon availability is low. Clustering into PSGs therefore protects proteasomes from autophagy. This clustering appears advantageous to cells; yeast cells that could form PSGs were better able to start growing again when their nutrient supply improved.

Protein clustering (also known as aggregation) is an important strategy that cells use to survive stressful conditions. However, it can also be harmful when proteins aggregate inappropriately, such as occurs in Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers may be able to use PSG assembly as a convenient model to study the causes and consequences of protein aggregation; this knowledge could ultimately be applied to improve human health and crop productivity.

Introduction

Protein homeostasis (proteostasis) is an essential process by which cells attempt to maintain proteome integrity by regulating protein synthesis, folding, transport and degradation. Key features are mechanisms that control the abundance of regulators necessary for developmental transitions or stress survival; re-cycle the cellular complement of amino acids; and clear mis-folded or dysfunctional proteins and protein complexes (Hipp et al., 2014; Vilchez et al., 2014; Sala et al., 2017). Importantly, failure to remove aberrant proteins often allows the accumulation of cytotoxic protein aggregates that are frequent hallmarks of aging and an array of degenerative diseases collectively termed aggregation-prone pathologies (Menzies et al., 2015; Hjerpe et al., 2016; Yerbury et al., 2016).

Two major pathways for protein degradation in eukaryotes are the ubiquitin-26S proteasome system (UPS) and autophagy. UPS substrates are first tagged with a poly-ubiquitin chain using a highly polymorphic E1-E2-E3 enzymatic cascade, which facilitates their recognition and degradation by the 26S proteasome (Finley et al., 2012). This 2.5-MDa proteolytic machine is composed of two functionally distinct sub-complexes; the 20S core protease (CP) and the 19S regulatory particle (RP; Lander et al., 2012; Bhattacharyya et al., 2014). The CP houses the peptidase active sites responsible for cleaving substrates into short peptides, whereas the RP contains activities for substrate recognition, deubiquitylation, unfolding, and translocation into the CP lumen (Collins and Goldberg, 2017; Dikic, 2017).

While the UPS is exquisitely designed to catabolize proteins individually, it is often not compatible with turnover of larger protein-containing structures. Cells instead employ macroautophagy (henceforth referred to as autophagy), where portions of cytosol are engulfed by a double-membrane-bound structure termed an autophagosome, which is then delivered to the vacuole (in plants and yeast) or lysosome (in animals) for breakdown (Reggiori and Klionsky, 2013; Dikic, 2017; Galluzzi et al., 2017; Marshall and Vierstra, 2018). The delivery of substrates to autophagy is driven by an array of dedicated receptors that recognize appropriate cargo and tether them to the Atg8 (or LC3) protein that coats the enveloping autophagic membrane. In this way, specific proteins, macromolecular complexes, protein aggregates, whole organelles, and even invading pathogens can be selectively eliminated. In addition, less-selective autophagy of cytoplasmic constituents in bulk is often induced upon nutrient starvation as a mechanism to replenish amino acid pools.

Besides inducing autophagy, starvation triggers global re-arrangements in cellular transcriptomes, proteomes and metabolomes that ultimately result in cessation of cell growth and entry into quiescence (Laporte et al., 2011; Marguerat et al., 2012; Valcourt et al., 2012; Honigberg, 2016; Roche et al., 2017). ATP levels decline during the transition from proliferation to quiescence as glucose depletion restricts glycolysis and thus oxidative phosphorylation. This transition is also accompanied by a drop in intracellular pH and a reduction in protoplasmic fluidity that impacts the dynamics of soluble proteins (Parry et al., 2014; Munder et al., 2016). Widespread re-organization of proteins into membrane-less condensates/granules is also a common phenomenon that might serve to partition, freeze, and/or protect cellular activities until growth resumes (Laporte et al., 2008; Narayanaswamy et al., 2009; O'Connell et al., 2014; Lee et al., 2016; Franzmann et al., 2018; Holehouse and Pappu, 2018).

In yeast, one prominent example of cytoplasmic condensates that accumulate as cells enter into stationary phase is the re-localization of proteasomes from the nucleus into cytoplasmic foci known as proteasome storage granules (PSGs; Laporte et al., 2008; Chowdhury and Enenkel, 2015; Lee et al., 2016; Yedidi et al., 2016; Gu et al., 2017). A current model proposes that proteasomes first accumulate at the inner face of the nuclear envelope, pass through the nuclear pore, and then gather in an early cytoplasmic intermediate that finally yields mature PSGs (Peters et al., 2016). The drop in ATP levels destabilizes the CP-RP interaction (Bajorek et al., 2003), and although the CP and RP localize to the same PSGs, they are thought to be targeted by different mechanisms (Weberruss et al., 2013). Upon replenishment of the culture medium with a fresh carbon source, ATP levels rapidly increase to trigger the resumption of cell growth, the dissociation of PSGs, and the resorption of proteasomes into the nucleus, all within just a few minutes (Laporte et al., 2008).

How and why PSGs assemble remains unclear. Factors influencing their formation include intracellular pH, with low pH stimulating PSG formation (Peters et al., 2013), the NatB N-terminal acetylation complex (van Deventer et al., 2015), the alternative CP capping protein Blm10 (Weberruss et al., 2013), and the C-terminal region of Rpn11, an intrinsic proteasomal deubiquitylase (DUB; Saunier et al., 2013). More recently, a high-throughput screen by Gu et al. (2017) identified 45 genes required for sequestration of the CP into PSGs, 21 of which were also required for sequestration of the RP. Included were factors involved in protein ubiquitylation (including ubiquitin itself) and energy regulation. However, with the exception of Blm10 and ubiquitin, none of these proteins accumulated in PSGs, hence their role(s) in PSG formation remain largely obscure (Gu et al., 2017).

In addition to entering PSGs, it was recently reported that proteasomes are rapidly degraded by autophagy via a process termed proteaphagy (Marshall et al., 2015; Marshall et al., 2016; Marshall and Vierstra, 2015; Cohen-Kaplan et al., 2016; Waite et al., 2016; Nemec et al., 2017). Two separate pathways are evident: one that clears inactive proteasomes, and a second that responds to nitrogen deprivation. This former pathway involves the Hsp42-dependent concentration of proteasomes into another cytoplasmic granule termed the insoluble protein deposit (IPOD), extensive ubiquitylation of the particle, and then recognition by the ubiquitin-binding autophagic receptors RPN10 (in plants) or Cue5 (in yeast) for eventual deposition into autophagosomes (Marshall et al., 2015; Marshall et al., 2016). The machinery underpinning the latter nitrogen-sensitive pathway is less resolved. Besides requiring the core autophagy system, the nutrient-responsive Atg1 kinase complex, and the sorting nexins Snx4/Atg24, Snx41 and/or Snx42 (Marshall et al., 2015; Marshall et al., 2016; Nemec et al., 2017), the DUB Ubp3 is needed, implying that the deubiquitylation of an unknown factor is important (Waite et al., 2016).

Given the contrasting roles of PSGs and proteaphagy in controlling proteasome abundance during carbon and nitrogen starvation, respectively, we hypothesized that the two are inter-related, with the intriguing scenario that proteasomes are specifically recruited to PSGs upon carbon starvation to safeguard them from proteaphagy. Here, we tested this idea by examining a number of conditions and mutants known to impact PSG assembly, and assaying their consequences for proteaphagy. In all cases, PSG assembly and proteaphagy were antagonistic; for example, when PSG formation is blocked, proteaphagy occurs. We confirmed that Blm10 is required for incorporation of the CP into PSGs, and identified the RP-associated protein Spg5 (Hanna et al., 2012) as integral to the incorporation of the RP into PSGs, thus linking both to proteasome protection. Ubp3 activity is also required for carbon-starvation-induced proteaphagy in the absence of PSG formation, as it is upon nitrogen starvation (Waite et al., 2016). Culture growth studies revealed that the ability to form PSGs improves cell fitness, presumably by providing a cache of stored proteasomes that can be rapidly re-mobilized when carbon availability improves. Finally, we demonstrated that Arabidopsis also assembles PSGs upon fixed-carbon starvation via a process requiring the Blm10 ortholog PA200, making it highly likely that this proteasome protective granule is conserved among eukaryotes.

Results

Proteasomes are rapidly degraded by autophagy in response to nitrogen but not carbon starvation

While yeast proteasomes undergo rapid proteaphagy in response to nitrogen starvation (Marshall et al., 2016), recent results from Waite et al., 2016 suggested that proteasomes are not similarly degraded in response to carbon starvation, even though both conditions activate bulk autophagy (Takeshige et al., 1992; Adachi et al., 2017). To further investigate this possibility, we exploited haploid strains in which the CP subunit Pre10 (α7) or the RP subunit Rpn5 were expressed with C-terminal GFP tags. These reporters allowed us to track proteaphagy by ‘GFP-release’ immunoblot assays that detect the liberation of stable, free GFP from the fusion proteins following their autophagic transport to vacuoles, and by confocal fluorescence microscopy that visualizes the movement of GFP-tagged proteasomes from the nucleus, where over 80% of the particles reside (Enenkel et al., 1998; Russell et al., 1999), to other cellular locations such as the vacuole (Marshall et al., 2016; Waite et al., 2016). Importantly, by measuring the ratio of free GFP to the fusion, and by morphometric analysis of confocal images (e.g. Figure 1F), we could quantitatively assess proteasome fates (Marshall et al., 2015; Marshall et al., 2016). As shown by the GFP-release assays in Figure 1A, proteasomes in wild-type cells undergo rapid proteaphagy upon nitrogen starvation, as evidenced by the accumulation of free GFP from both Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP reporters, which could be seen when total cell lysates were immunoblotted with anti-GFP antibodies. Greater than 90% of both fusions disappeared within 1 day of the onset of starvation, concomitant with the strong accumulation of free GFP.

Figure 1. Proteasomes are rapidly degraded upon nitrogen but not carbon starvation.

(A, B and C) Measurement of proteaphagy upon nitrogen and/or carbon starvation by monitoring the release of free GFP from the CP and RP proteasome subunit reporters Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP, respectively. Cells expressing PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP, and also containing the Δatg7 or Δatg13 mutations (panel B only), were switched from nutrient-rich medium (+N + C) to medium lacking either nitrogen (–N), carbon (–C), or both (–N –C). Total protein extracts from cells collected at the indicated times were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies. Open and closed arrowheads locate the GFP fusions and free GFP, respectively. The full gels are shown for the Pre10-GFP reporter, whereas only the regions of the gels containing the GFP fusion and free GFP are shown for the Rpn5-GFP reporter. Immunodetection of histone H3 was used to confirm near equal protein loading. (D) Proteasomes rapidly coalesce into PSG-type puncta soon after carbon starvation. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells were examined by confocal fluorescence microscopy immediately before and 1 hr after switching from +N +C medium to –C medium. Scale bar, 2 µm. (E) Proteasomes are deposited into vacuoles upon nitrogen starvation, but form cytoplasmic PSG-type puncta in response to carbon starvation. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells were grown on +N +C medium and then switched to +N +C, –N, –C, or –N –C media for 24 hr before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Scale bar, 2 µm. (F) Quantification of the cellular distribution of proteasomes when grown in +N +C, –N, –C, or –N –C media. Cells were treated and imaged as in panel (E). Each bar represents analysis of at least 200 cells. (G) Aggregation of proteasomes into IPODs, but not PSGs, requires the Hsp42 chaperone. PRE10-GFP cells with or without the Δerg6 and/or Δhsp42 mutations were switched from +N +C medium to either –C medium or +N +C medium containing 80 µM MG132 (+MG132) for 24 hr before imaging as in panel (E). Scale bar, 2 µm. (H) PSGs formed upon carbon starvation are distinct from IPOD puncta. PRE10-GFP cells also expressing the IPOD marker RNQ1-mCherry were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for 24 hr before imaging as in panel E. Shown are the GFP, mCherry and merged fluorescence images. Scale bar, 1 µm. In panels D, E, G, and H: N, nucleus; V, vacuole; P, PSG; I, IPOD.

Figure 1—source data 1. Source data for Figure 1F.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.006
Figure 1—source data 2. Source data for Figure 1—figure supplement 1A and B.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.007
Figure 1—source data 3. Source data for Figure 1—figure supplement 2B.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.008

Figure 1.

Figure 1—figure supplement 1. Carbon starvation activates both bulk and selective autophagy.

Figure 1—figure supplement 1.

(A) Both carbon and nitrogen starvation, and growth at high or low pH, strongly attenuates yeast cell growth. Cells were grown in nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium at pH 6.0 and then switched to either medium lacking nitrogen (–N), carbon (–C), or both (–N –C; left panel), or to medium buffered to pH 3.0, 6.0 or 9.0 and containing 100 μM CCCP (right panel). Cell growth at the indicated times was monitored by measuring culture density at OD600. (B) Bulk autophagy is induced upon nitrogen and carbon starvation. Cells expressing Pho8Δ60 were grown for either 0, 4, 8 or 20 hr after a switch from +N +C medium to –N, –C or –N –C media. Cells were assayed for bulk autophagy using the phosphatase activity generated upon vacuolar activation of the Pho8Δ60 reporter. Values were normalized to those obtained at 0 hr. Each bar represents the mean (±SD) of three biological replicates, each comprised of three technical replicates. Asterisks indicate data points that are statistically significantly different to the 0 hr time point (p<0.05). (C) Both carbon and nitrogen starvation induce Atg8-mediated autophagy, as judged by release of free GFP from the GFP-Atg8 reporter. GFP-ATG8 cells were switched from +N +C medium to –N, –C or –N –C media. Total protein extracts from cells collected at the indicated times were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies. Open and closed arrowheads locate the GFP-Atg8 fusion and free GFP, respectively. Immunodetection of histone H3 antibodies was used to confirm near equal protein loading. (D) Both carbon and nitrogen starvation activate multiple selective autophagic routes. Cells expressing the GFP-Ape1 (CVT), Om45-GFP (mitophagy), Pex14-GFP (pexophagy), or Rpl25-GFP (ribophagy) reporters were switched from +N +C medium to –N, –C or –N –C media. Total protein extracts from cells collected at the indicated times were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies, as in panel (C). Open and closed arrowheads highlight the different GFP fusions and free GFP, respectively.
Figure 1—figure supplement 2. Formation of PSGs occurs rapidly in response to carbon starvation, is independent of the pre-autophagosomal structure (PAS), and is reversible.

Figure 1—figure supplement 2.

(A) Proteasomes rapidly coalesce into PSG-type puncta soon after carbon starvation. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells were grown on nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium and then switched to medium lacking carbon (–C) for the indicated periods of time before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Scale bar, 2 µm. (B) Time course for the changes in the cellular distribution of proteasomes when switched to growth in –C medium. The intracellular distribution of proteasomes was quantified from cells treated and imaged as in panel (A). Each bar represents analysis of at least 200 cells. (C) PSGs form upon carbon starvation even in mutants that cannot scaffold the PAS. PRE10-GFP cells with or without the Δatg1, Δatg11, Δatg13 or Δatg17 mutations were grown on nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium and then switched to –C medium for 6 hr before imaging as in panel (A). Scale bar, 2 µm. (D) PSG formation upon carbon starvation is rapidly reversible. PRE10-GFP cells were grown on +N +C medium, switched to –C medium for 6 hr, and then returned to +C medium for 30 min before imaging as in panel (A). Scale bar, 2 µm. (E) PSG formation upon treatment with 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) is rapidly reversible. PRE10-GFP cells were grown on +N +C medium, switched to +C medium containing 5 mM 2-DG and 2 mM NaN3 medium for 6 hr, and then returned to +C medium lacking 2-DG and NaN3 for 1 hr before imaging as in panel (A). Scale bar, 2 µm. In panels A, C, D and E: N, nucleus; V, vacuole, P, PSG.

By contrast, loss of the fusions and the release of free GFP were substantially slower upon carbon starvation, which was generated by switching cells from growth on non-fermentable carbon (i.e. glycerol) to medium lacking this carbon source (Takeshige et al., 1992; Adachi et al., 2017). Here, free GFP was undetectable within the first 2 days, with only small amounts appearing subsequently (~8–12% after 6 days; Figure 1A). This relative absence of proteaphagy occurred despite that fact that the carbon starvation regime employed here effectively suppressed culture growth (Figure 1—figure supplement 1A) and stimulated bulk autophagy, as judged by the increased activity of the Pho8Δ60 reporter (Noda and Klionsky, 2008) and by the release of free GFP from GFP-Atg8, which both measure autophagic flux (Figure 1—figure supplement 1B and C). This modest accumulation of free GFP seen from the Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP reporters was autophagy-dependent, as it was absent in mutants eliminating the core autophagy component Atg7, or the Atg13 regulatory subunit of the Atg1 kinase complex that activates autophagy in response to nutrient deprivation (Figure 1B). Thus, proteaphagy still occurs in yeast upon carbon starvation, but at a substantially slower rate.

Surprisingly, when nitrogen and carbon starvation were combined, we found that rapid proteaphagy during nitrogen starvation was suppressed by the simultaneous lack of carbon. Although 8 hr of nitrogen starvation induced rapid clearance of proteasomes, as measured by loss of the Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP reporters together with the appearance of free GFP, little to no clearance was evident in cells starved for both nitrogen and carbon (Figure 1C). This contrasted with other forms of selective autophagy, with the turnover of GFP-tagged substrates related to the cytoplasm-to-vacuole targeting (CVT) pathway (Ape1; Shintani et al., 2002), pexophagy (Pex14; Reggiori et al., 2005), ribophagy (Rpl25; Kraft et al., 2008) and, to a lesser extent, mitophagy (Om45; Kanki and Klionsky, 2008) being induced by all three starvation regimes (Figure 1—figure supplement 1D). For each substrate, rapid loss of the fusion concomitant with release of free GFP was readily evident upon nitrogen, carbon, or simultaneous nitrogen and carbon starvation. As an aside, we saw slightly slower mitophagy upon carbon starvation versus nitrogen starvation, in agreement with prior observations showing that the rate of mitophagy is dampened in cells exposed to non-fermentable carbon sources, presumably to maintain respiration (Kanki and Klionsky, 2008). Taken together, it appears that carbon starvation selectively suppresses proteaphagy, despite up-regulating both bulk autophagy and other forms of selective autophagy.

Confocal fluorescence microscopy of cells expressing PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP confirmed that the rapid transport of proteasomes to the vacuole upon nitrogen starvation was indeed suppressed by simultaneous carbon starvation. Upon switching exponentially growing cells from nitrogen-rich to nitrogen-starvation medium, the GFP signals moved from a mainly nuclear localization to a diffuse vacuolar pattern within 24 hr (Figure 1E and F). Strikingly, this relocation was not evident in cells starved for both nitrogen and carbon. Instead, the Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP signals migrated toward the nuclear periphery and into brightly fluorescent, large (~0.5 μm) puncta within the cytoplasm (Figure 1E and F). The appearance of these foci was extremely rapid, being detectable in 50% of the cells within 1 hr of carbon starvation and in 95% of the cells after 4 hr (Figure 1D and Figure 1—figure supplement 2A and B). The time course for entry of Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP into these cytoplasmic puncta (i.e. within 1 hr) was faster than the up-regulation of bulk autophagy (at 2 to 4 hr), suggesting that formation of these foci is an early response to carbon deprivation separate from autophagy. In support, the foci were visible in a number of mutants missing factors required for autophagy initiation, including Atg1, Atg11, Atg13 and Atg17 that help scaffold the pre-autophagosomal structure (PAS), indicating that they arise independent of autophagy (Figure 1—figure supplement 2C). The appearance of these foci was also rapidly reversible; upon switching starved PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells to fresh carbon-containing medium, the GFP signals returned to diffuse cytoplasmic and nuclear patterns within 30 min (Figure 1—figure supplement 2D).

We previously described the sequestration of proteasomes into cytoplasmic IPODs, which represents an intermediate step in the autophagic clearance of inactive proteasomes (Marshall et al., 2016). However, the proteasome-containing puncta emerging after carbon starvation were different, as co-localization studies with Pre10-GFP and the IPOD marker Rnq1-mCherry (Kaganovich et al., 2008) detected separate cytoplasmic foci in greater than 90% of cells (Figure 1H). Moreover, while the accretion of inactive proteasomes into IPODs requires the Hsp42 chaperone (Figure 1G; Marshall et al., 2016), the rapid accumulation of proteasomes into the cytoplasmic puncta seen here upon carbon starvation still occurred in Δhsp42 cells (Figure 1G; Peters et al., 2016). These data place the proteasome-containing foci seen upon carbon starvation as different from IPODs.

Conditions that impact PSG formation inversely affect proteaphagy

Numerous studies have described the accumulation of PSGs in stationary phase yeast which resemble the proteasome-containing puncta seen here that form during carbon starvation (Laporte et al., 2008; Peters et al., 2013; Saunier et al., 2013; van Deventer et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2016; Gu et al., 2017; reviewed in Chowdhury and Enenkel, 2015; Yedidi et al., 2016). Consequently, we hypothesized that these puncta are PSGs, which could protect proteasomes from proteaphagic degradation by sequestering them away from the autophagic machinery. To test this proposed inverse relationship between PSG-type puncta and proteaphagy, we examined the accumulation of these puncta and rates of proteaphagy under several situations previously shown to influence PSG accumulation.

One such situation involves the protein acetylase NatB, one of three acetylation complexes in yeast that modify the N-terminus of proteins in a sequence-dependent manner (Polevoda et al., 1999). Genetic analysis of both its catalytic (Nat3) and regulatory (Mdm20) subunits recently demonstrated that NatB is essential for PSG assembly (van Deventer et al., 2015). Here, we confirmed this observation by showing that both the Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP reporters failed to localize to PSG-type foci in Δnat3 and Δmdm20 cells subjected to carbon starvation (Figure 2A and Figure 2—figure supplement 1A and B). Instead, both reporters accumulated in the vacuole, as expected if proteaphagy became the alternative. Likewise, whereas little free GFP accumulated from both reporters even upon extended carbon starvation of wild-type cells, rapid GFP accumulation was seen in Δnat3 and Δmdm20 cells (Figure 2B and Figure 2—figure supplement 1C). Both the accumulation of PSGs and the stability of the Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP fusions were restored to wild-type levels when Δnat3 cells were rescued with HA-tagged Nat3, but not with the catalytically defective Nat3(C97A)-HA variant (Figure 2A and B, and Figure 2—figure supplement 1B), demonstrating that an active NatB complex is essential for PSG assembly and proteaphagy suppression.

Figure 2. Mutants that block PSG formation accelerate proteaphagy upon carbon starvation.

(A) Elimination of the Nat3 subunit of the NatB N-acetylation complex promotes autophagic transport of proteasomes to the vacuole. PRE10-GFP cells containing the Δnat3 mutation with or without rescue with HA-tagged Nat3 were grown on nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium and then switched to –C medium for 24 hr before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Quantification is shown in Figure 2—figure supplement 1B. (B) Suppression of PSG assembly by deletion of Nat3 permits proteaphagy of the entire proteasome in response to carbon starvation. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells containing the Δnat3 mutation, with or without rescue with HA-tagged Nat3 or the inactive Nat3(C97A) variant, were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for the indicated times. Total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies as shown in Figure 1A. Open and closed arrowheads locate the GFP fusions and free GFP, respectively. Accumulation of the Nat3-HA and Nat3(C97A)-HA proteins was confirmed by immunoblotting with anti-HA antibodies. Immunodetection of histone H3 was used to confirm near equal protein loading. (C) The rpn11-m5 mutation blocks entry of the RP into PSGs and encourages transport of the RP to the vacuole in response to carbon starvation. RPN5-GFP cells containing the rpn11-m5 mutation with or without rescue with FLAG-tagged Rpn11 were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for 24 hr before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy as in panel (A). Quantification in shown in Figure 2—figure supplement 1B. (D) Suppression of RP entry into PSGs by the rpn11-m1 and rpn11-m5 mutations promotes autophagic degradation of the RP but not the CP. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells containing the rpn11-m1 or rpn11-m5 mutations with or without rescue with FLAG-tagged Rpn11 were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for the indicated times and assayed for GFP release by immunoblotting as in panel (B). Accumulation of the Rpn11-FLAG protein was confirmed by immunoblotting with anti-FLAG antibodies. In panels A and C: N, nucleus; V, vacuole; P, PSG. Scale bar, 2 µm.

Figure 2—source data 1. Source data for Figure 2—figure supplement 1B.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.011

Figure 2.

Figure 2—figure supplement 1. PSG formation requires Nat3, Mdm20, and the C-terminus of Rpn11.

Figure 2—figure supplement 1.

(A) Elimination of the Mdm20 subunit of the NatB N-acetylation complex promotes autophagic transport of proteasomes to the vacuole. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells with or without the Δmdm20 mutation were grown on nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium and then switched to –C medium for 24 hr before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Scale bar, 2 µm. (B) Quantification of the cellular distribution of proteasomes upon carbon starvation in the absence of Nat3, Mdm20, or the C-terminus of Rpn11. Cells were grown, treated and imaged as in panels A and C of Figure 2. Each bar represents analysis of at least 200 cells. (C) Suppression of PSG assembly by deletion of Mdm20 permits proteaphagy of the entire proteasome in response to carbon starvation. PRE10-GFP (left panel) or RPN5-GFP (right panel) cells with or without the Δnat3 or Δmdm20 mutations were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for the indicated times. Total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies, as shown in Figure 1A. Open and closed arrowheads locate the GFP fusions and free GFP, respectively. Immunodetection of histone H3 was used to confirm near equal protein loading.

In a similar fashion, we tested a pair of mutants affecting the intrinsic deubiquitylase of the RP, Rpn11 (termed rpn11-m1 and rpn11-m5; for details see Materials and methods), which were previously shown to prevent or delay entry of the RP, but not the CP, into PSGs (Saunier et al., 2013). Accordingly, we found that both the rpn11-m1 and rpn11-m5 alleles suppressed formation of PSGs containing Rpn5-GFP upon carbon starvation, and instead allowed concentration of the reporter in vacuoles (Figure 2C and Figure 2—figure supplement 1B). The mutants also promoted the rapid release of free GFP from the Rpn5-GFP reporter but not the Pre10-GFP reporter, indicating that proteaphagy of the RP, but not the CP, was now occurring in these carbon-starved cells (Figure 2D). In both assays, the responses of rpn11-m5 cells were restored to wild type when complemented with an RPN11-FLAG transgene (Figure 2C and D, and Figure 2—figure supplement 1B). Interestingly, small amounts of free GFP accumulated from the Rpn5-GFP reporter in the rpn11-m1 mutant even in the absence of starvation (Figure 2D). This slight accumulation was absent in Δatg7 and Δcue5 backgrounds (data not shown), suggesting that it represents proteaphagy of compromised RPs, as previously observed for the rpn5ΔC mutation that also impairs RP assembly (Peters et al., 2015; Marshall et al., 2016).

Intracellular pH also influences yeast PSG abundance, which can be altered by mutating the vacuolar V-ATPase complex or modifying the pH of the growth medium (Peters et al., 2013). In the latter situation, growth at low pH, as occurs during quiescence, accelerates the accumulation of PSGs, while growth in high pH medium dampens their accumulation. To test if pH inversely impacts proteaphagy, we grew cells expressing PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP in pH 3.0, 6.0 and 9.0 media buffered to prevent natural acidification of the cultures (Wasko et al., 2013), and containing the ionophore carbonyl-cyanide-3-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) to suppress effective regulation of internal pH (Orij et al., 2009). While PSG accumulation, as assessed by confocal fluorescence microscopy, was more robust at low pH and dampened at high pH (Figure 3A; Peters et al., 2013), we found that rates of proteaphagy, as measured by release of free GFP from the Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP reporters, were more robust at high pH and dampened at low pH (Figure 3B). High pH also encouraged transport of the GFP signals to the vacuole, in agreement with increased proteaphagy (Figure 3A). This rapid appearance of free GFP from both reporters in pH 9.0 medium was blocked in Δatg1, Δatg7 and Δatg13 mutants, but allowed in Δcue5 mutants (Figure 3C), indicating that clearance of proteasomes at high pH occurred via the nutrient-responsive proteaphagy pathway, and not by the pathway that clears inactive proteasomes (Marshall et al., 2016; Waite et al., 2016).

Figure 3. Growth conditions that impact PSG formation inversely affect autophagic clearance of proteasomes.

Figure 3.

(A) Growth on high pH medium, which supresses PSG assembly, promotes proteaphagy in response to carbon starvation. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells were switched from nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium buffered to pH 6.0 to the same medium buffered to pH 3.0, 6.0 or 9.0 and containing 100 µM CCCP for 1 hr, and then incubated for the indicated times in the same media lacking carbon. Shown is quantification of the cellular distribution of proteasomes following the indicated treatments. Each bar represents analysis of at least 200 cells. (B) Growth of yeast cells at high pH, but not low pH, accelerates proteaphagy. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells were treated as in panel (A) and total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies as shown in Figure 1A. Open and closed arrowheads locate the GFP fusions and free GFP, respectively. Immunodetection of histone H3 was used to confirm near equal protein loading. (C) Accelerated proteaphagy at high pH is dependent on the core autophagy machinery, but not the autophagic receptor Cue5. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells containing the Δatg1, Δatg7, Δatg13 or Δcue5 mutations were grown in pH 9.0 medium lacking carbon as in panel (A). Cell aliquots were collected at the indicated times and assayed for GFP release by immunoblotting as in panel (B). (D) Bulk autophagy is not appreciably impacted by the pH of the culture medium. Cells expressing PHO8Δ60 were switched from +N +C medium buffered to pH 6.0 to the same medium buffered to pH 3.0, 6.0 or 9.0 and containing 100 µM CCCP for 1 hr, and then further incubated for either 0 or 24 hr after a switch to the same media lacking carbon. Cells were assayed for bulk autophagy using the phosphatase activity generated upon vacuolar activation of the Pho8Δ60 reporter. Values were normalized to those obtained at 0 hr. Each bar represents the mean (±SD) of three independent biological replicates, each comprised of three technical replicates. (E) Exposing cells to 2-DG stimulates PSG formation. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells grown in +N +C medium were pre-treated for 6 hr with or without 5 mM 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) and 2 mM NaN3, and then switched to medium lacking nitrogen for 8 hr before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy. N, nucleus; V, vacuole; P, PSG. Scale bar, 2 µm. (F) Exposing nitrogen-starved cells to 2-DG protects proteasomes from autophagic degradation. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells were pre-treated with 2-DG for 6 hr and then starved of nitrogen for 8 hr as in panel (E). Cell aliquots were collected at the indicated times and total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblotting as in panel (B).

Figure 3—source data 1. Source data for Figure 3A and D.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.013

Certainly, changes in intracellular pH likely have effects on cell growth that could indirectly impact autophagy. Indeed, we found that culture growth was robust at pH 6.0, but substantially slower in pH 3.0 or pH 9.0 media (Figure 1—figure supplement 1A). However, changes in the growth medium pH only marginally impacted bulk autophagy, based on measurements of autophagic flux using the Pho8Δ60 reporter (Figure 3D).

During a screen for factors inhibiting PSG assembly during quiescence, several proteins that regulate energy balance and ATP levels were identified (Gu et al., 2017), suggesting that PSG formation accelerates upon energy depletion. To study how reductions in ATP might commensurately impact proteaphagy, we treated PRE10-GFP and RPN5-GFP cells with 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG), a glycolysis inhibitor that depresses intracellular ATP levels (Wick et al., 1957). As predicted, pre-treatment of non-starved, wild-type cells with 5 mM 2-DG rapidly induced the sequestration of proteasomes into PSG-type puncta, as observed by confocal fluorescence microscopy (Figure 3E). Their appearance strongly resembled the puncta observed following carbon starvation, including their rapid reversibility when 2-DG was removed from the culture medium (Figure 1—figure supplement 2E). In fact, PSGs even appeared in nitrogen-starved cells pre-treated with 2-DG, as they do in cells subjected to simultaneous nitrogen and carbon starvation. In contrast, when assayed for proteaphagy by the GFP-release assay of both reporters, we found that 2-DG had the inverse effect; like carbon starvation, 2-DG dampened proteaphagy induced by nitrogen starvation (Figure 3F). Taken together, we found that conditions that suppress PSG formation (the Δnat3, Δmdm20, rpn11-m1 and rpn11-m5 mutations, or growth at high pH) accentuated proteaphagy, while those that enhanced PSG formation (low pH and 2-DG) instead dampened proteaphagy, strongly suggesting that the two processes are inversely related.

Blm10 helps deliver the CP to PSGs and protects the CP from proteaphagy

Blm10 (known as PA200 in plants and mammals) is a well-described CP capping factor, where it has been proposed to help assemble α- and β-subunits into the CP barrel, stabilize the complex before RP docking, and/or possibly promote nuclear import of the CP (Schmidt et al., 2005; Sadre-Bazzaz et al., 2010; Dange et al., 2011; Weberruss et al., 2013). This 246-kDa protein has also been implicated in PSG assembly, where it appears essential for sequestering the CP specifically (Weberruss et al., 2013).

Consequently, we hypothesized that absence of Blm10 could lead to proteaphagy of the CP by limiting its incorporation into PSGs. Indeed, we found by confocal fluorescence microscopy that the Pre10-GFP reporter did not localize into PSGs in Δblm10 cells after 24 hr of carbon starvation, but instead appeared in the vacuole (Figure 4A and B), strongly suggesting an absolute requirement for Blm10 in directing the CP to PSGs. By contrast, the Rpn5-GFP reporter behaved normally in carbon-starved Δblm10 cells and rapidly coalesced into PSGs (Figure 4A and B). The appearance of Pre10-GFP in Δblm10 vacuoles upon carbon starvation was blocked in Δatg7 and Δatg13 backgrounds, where the Pre10-GFP reporter instead remained in the cytosol and nucleus, but not in the Δcue5 background (Figure 4A and B), indicating that autophagic transport of the CP proceeds via the nutrient-responsive proteaphagy pathway, and not the pathway that clears inactive proteasomes. Moreover, when we assayed proteasomes in Δblm10 cells by the GFP-release assay, we found that the CP now underwent proteaphagy upon carbon or simultaneous nitrogen and carbon starvation, as evidenced by the rapid accumulation of free GFP from the Pre10-GFP reporter (Figure 4C and Figure 4—figure supplement 1A). Further supporting a nutrient-responsive route, this accumulation of free GFP was blocked in Δatg1, Δatg7 and Δatg13 cells, but not in Δcue5 cells (Figure 4D). The RP did not encounter the same fate in starved Δblm10 cells, as the release of free GFP from Rpn5-GFP was not similarly accelerated (Figure 4C).

Figure 4. Blm10 encourages formation of CP-containing PSGs and suppresses autophagy of the CP in response to carbon starvation.

(A) Elimination of Blm10 suppresses formation of CP-containing PSGs and permits autophagic transport of the CP to the vacuole. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells with or without the Δblm10 mutation, either alone or in combination with the Δatg7, Δatg13 or Δcue5 mutations, were grown on nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium and then switched to –C medium for 24 hr before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Scale bar, 2 µm. (B) Quantification of the cellular distribution of 26S proteasomes in response to carbon starvation in the absence of Blm10 and components of the autophagy machinery. Cells were grown, treated and imaged as in panel A. Each bar represents analysis of at least 200 cells. (C) Deletion of Blm10 accelerates proteaphagy of the CP, but not the RP, in response to carbon starvation. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells with or without the Δblm10 mutation were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for the indicated times. Total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies as shown in Figure 1A. Open and closed arrowheads locate the GFP fusion and free GFP, respectively. Immunodetection of histone H3 was used to confirm near equal protein loading. (D) Autophagic turnover of the CP in response to carbon starvation in the absence of Blm10 requires the core autophagy machinery, but not Cue5. PRE10-GFP cells with or without the Δblm10 mutation, either alone or in combination with the Δatg1, Δatg7, Δatg13 or Δcue5 mutations, were grown on +N +C medium and then switched to –C medium for the indicated times. Total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies as shown in panel (C). (E) Blm10 co-localizes with Pre10 into PSGs upon carbon starvation. PRE10-GFP cells also expressing mCherry-BLM10 were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for 24 hr before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Shown are the GFP, mCherry, and merged fluorescence images. Scale bar, 2 µm. (F) Blm10 is targeted for autophagic degradation upon nitrogen starvation but not carbon starvation. BLM10-GFP cells were switched from +N +C medium to –N, –C, or –N –C media for the indicated times. Total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies as shown in panel (C). In panels A and E: N, nucleus; V, vacuole; P, PSG.

Figure 4—source data 1. Source data for Figure 4B.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.016

Figure 4.

Figure 4—figure supplement 1. Functional copies of Blm10 and Spg5, but not Ecm29, are required to protect proteasomes from autophagic degradation upon carbon starvation.

Figure 4—figure supplement 1.

(A) Blm10 is required to prevent proteaphagy of the CP upon simultaneous nitrogen and carbon starvation. PRE10-GFP cells with or without the Δblm10 deletion were switched from nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium to media lacking nitrogen (–N) or both nitrogen and carbon (–N –C). Total protein extracts from cells collected at the indicated times were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies. Open and closed arrowheads locate the Pre10-GFP fusion and free GFP, respectively. Immunodetection of histone H3 antibodies was used to confirm near equal protein loading. (B) Carbon-starvation-induced proteaphagy of the CP in the Δblm10 mutant, and of the RP in the Δspg5 mutant, can be rescued by expression of mCherry-tagged versions of Blm10 and Spg5, respectively. PRE10-GFP cells containing the Δblm10 deletion with or without expression of mCherry-BLM10 (left panel), or RPN5-GFP cells containing the Δspg5 deletion with or without expression of mCherry-SPG5 (right panel), were switched from +N +C medium to medium lacking carbon (–C). Total protein extracts from cells collected at the indicated times were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies, as in panel (A). Accumulation of the mCherry fusion proteins was confirmed by immunoblotting with anti-mCherry antibodies. (C) Blm10 co-localizes with Rpn5 in PSGs upon carbon starvation, but Spg5 does not co-localize with Pre10. Cells expressing PRE10-GFP and mCherry-Spg5, or RPN5-GFP and mCherry-BLM10, were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for 24 hr before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Shown are the GFP, mCherry and merged fluorescence images. N, nucleus; V, vacuole; P, PSG. Scale bar, 2 µm. (D) Ecm29 is not required to either stimulate or prevent carbon starvation-induced proteaphagy. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells with or without the Δblm10, Δspg5 and/or Δecm29 deletions were switched from +N +C medium to medium lacking carbon (–C), and cell aliquots were taken at the indicated periods of time. Total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies, as in panel (A). (E) Ecm29 is not required for nitrogen starvation- or inhibitor-induced proteaphagy. Cells expressing PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP with or without the Δerg6 mutation were switched from +N +C medium to medium lacking nitrogen (–N), or +N +C medium containing 80 μM MG132 (+MG132) and incubated for 8 hr. Total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies as in panel (A).

Given the stable association of Blm10 with the CP, which can bind to both ends of the CP barrel (Schmidt et al., 2005; Sadre-Bazzaz et al., 2010), it was likely that Blm10 also enters PSGs. To confirm this possibility, we tested for co-localization of Blm10 and the CP by confocal fluorescence microscopy of cells expressing PRE10-GFP and mCherry-BLM10. The mCherry fusion appeared to retain the activity of non-modified Blm10, as it could reverse the accelerated turnover of Pre10-GFP in Δblm10 cells (Figure 4—figure supplement 1B). Under carbon-replete conditions, the two reporters had similar intracellular distributions, with a strong enrichment in the nucleus, moderate signal in the cytoplasm, and little to no signal in the vacuole (Figure 4E). Following carbon starvation, mCherry-Blm10 rapidly migrated into PSGs along with Pre10-GFP, strongly suggesting that the CP and Blm10 reside in the same granules (Figure 4E). Similar accretion was seen in cells expressing RPN5-GFP and mCherry-BLM10 (Figure 4—figure supplement 1C), indicating that these PSGs also contain the RP, as previously reported (Laporte et al., 2008). This finding corresponds with the recent study by Gu et al. (2017), who observed GFP-tagged Blm10 in PSGs upon entry of yeast cells into quiescence.

To assess if Blm10 also undergoes autophagy, we examined the Blm10-GFP reporter using the GFP-release assay. Free GFP was evident within hours of nitrogen starvation, indicating that Blm10 is a target of autophagy, possibly through its connection to the CP (Figure 4F). Conversely, free GFP did not accumulate in cells starved for carbon or both nitrogen and carbon (Figure 4F), again strongly implicating PSGs as a mechanism to not only safeguard the CP from proteaphagy, but also Blm10 bound to the CP.

Spg5 helps deliver the RP to PSGs and protects the RP from proteaphagy

Given the possibility that other factor(s) help sequester the RP into PSGs upon carbon starvation, as Blm10 does for the CP, we searched for likely candidates among known RP-interacting proteins. One possibility was Ecm29, which co-purifies with the 26S particle (Leggett et al., 2002; Marshall et al., 2016) and appears to have roles in proteasome assembly and quality control (Lehmann et al., 2010; Park et al., 2011; De La Mota-Peynado et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2017). However, when the Δecm29 mutation was introduced into PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells, we found by GFP-release assays that, as in wild type, the autophagic clearance of the CP and RP was slow during carbon starvation (Figure 4—figure supplement 1D), implying RP-containing PSGs still accumulate without Ecm29. We additionally investigated the roles of Blm10 and Ecm29 in nitrogen starvation- and inhibitor-induced proteaphagy; however, neither Δblm10 nor Δecm29 cells showed any defect in these pathways, as judged by rapid accumulation of free GFP from the Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP reporters after removal of nitrogen from the growth medium or addition of MG132, respectively (Figure 4—figure supplement 1E). The lack of an effect for Ecm29 in inhibitor-induced proteaphagy was noteworthy, given its proposed role in identifying dysfunctional proteasomes (Lehmann et al., 2010).

Another intriguing candidate was Spg5, which was previously shown by Hanna et al. (2012) to bind the AAA-ATPase ring of the RP but not the complete 26S particle, and to regulate proteasome structure and function in stationary-phase yeast cells. Moreover, evaluation of large-scale transcriptomic studies (Gasch et al., 2000; Martinez et al., 2004) revealed that SPG5 is highly expressed following either sudden carbon starvation induced by switching the growth medium, or by more gradual carbon starvation that occurs as cells enter stationary phase, both of which correlate with the timing of PSG formation. In fact, our focused transcript analysis of an assortment of proteasome genes, CUE5, BLM10 and SPG5 revealed that only the SPG5 mRNA dramatically increases in abundance in carbon-starved cells (Figure 5—figure supplement 1).

As above with Blm10, we tested the importance of Spg5 to PSG formation and proteaphagy using the confocal fluorescence microscopic and GFP-release assays. For the CP, Δspg5 cells starved for carbon behaved like wild type and rapidly coalesced Pre10-GFP into PSGs within a few hours after the onset of starvation (Figure 5A and B). In contrast, Δspg5 cells failed to similarly sequester Rpn5-GFP into PSGs, with the reporter instead re-localizing to vacuoles (Figure 5A and B). However, unlike the relationship of the CP and Blm10, the deposition of the RP into PSGs upon carbon starvation was not completely dependent on Spg5, as a sizable percentage of Δspg5 cells contained PSGs labelled with Rpn5-GFP after prolonged starvation (Figure 5E; Saunier et al., 2013), suggesting that absence of Spg5 delays, rather than blocks, deposition of the RP into PSGs. Delivery of Rpn5-GFP to the vacuole in Δspg5 cells was prevented in the Δatg7 and Δatg13, but not in the Δcue5 backgrounds, again indicating that the vacuolar transport of the RP depended on the nutrient-responsive proteaphagy pathway and not the pathway that clears inactive proteasomes (Figure 5A and B). Accordingly, when we assayed proteasomes by the GFP-release assay, we found that the RP indeed underwent proteaphagy in Δspg5 cells, as evidenced by the rapid accumulation of free GFP from the Rpn5-GFP reporter after 1 day of carbon starvation, a processes again requiring Atg1, Atg7 and Atg13, but not Cue5 (Figure 5C and D). However, the CP did not encounter the same fate, as the accumulation of free GFP from Pre10-GFP was not accelerated in carbon-starved Δspg5 cells (Figure 5C). The time course for entry of Rpn5-GFP into vacuoles in Δspg5 cells was noticeably slower than the time taken for Rpn5-GFP to enter into PSGs in wild-type cells, implying that PSG formation is faster than proteaphagy (Figure 5E).

Figure 5. Spg5 encourages formation of RP-containing PSGs and suppresses autophagy of the RP in response to carbon starvation.

(A) Elimination of Spg5 suppresses formation of RP-containing PSGs and permits autophagic transport of the RP to the vacuole. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells with or without the Δspg5 mutation, either alone or in combination with the Δatg7, Δatg13 or Δcue5 mutations, were grown on nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium and then switched to –C medium for 24 hr before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Scale bar, 2 µm. (B) Quantification of the cellular distribution of 26S proteasomes in response to carbon starvation in the absence of Spg5 and components of the autophagy machinery. Cells were grown, treated and imaged as in panel (A). Each bar represents analysis of at least 200 cells. (C) Deletion of Spg5 accelerates proteaphagy of the RP, but not the CP, in response to carbon starvation. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells with or without the Δspg5 mutation were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for the indicated times. Total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies, as shown in Figure 1A. Open and closed arrowheads locate the GFP fusion and free GFP, respectively. Immunodetection of histone H3 was used to confirm near equal protein loading. (D) Autophagic turnover of the RP in response to carbon starvation in the absence of Spg5 requires the core autophagy machinery, but not Cue5. RPN5-GFP cells with or without the Δspg5 mutation, either alone or in combination with the Δatg1, Δatg7, Δatg13 or Δcue5 mutations, were grown on +N +C medium and then switched to –C medium for the indicated times. Total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies as shown in panel (C). (E) Deletion of Spg5 delays, but does not completely block, formation of RP-containing PSGs in response to carbon starvation. RPN5-GFP cells with or without the Δspg5 mutation were switched from +N + C medium to –C medium for the indicated times before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy as in panel (A). The cellular distribution of GFP was quantified as in panel B; the color code for the bars is also included in this panel. Each bar represents analysis of at least 200 cells. (F) Spg5 does not routinely co-localize with Rpn5 into PSGs upon carbon starvation. RPN5-GFP cells also expressing mCherry-SPG5 were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for 24 hr before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Shown are the GFP, mCherry, and merged fluorescence images. Scale bar, 2 µm. In panels A and F: N, nucleus; V, vacuole; P, PSG.

Figure 5—source data 1. Source data for Figure 5B and E.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.019
Figure 5—source data 2. Source data for Figure 5—figure supplement 1.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.020

Figure 5.

Figure 5—figure supplement 1. Long-term carbon starvation represses proteasome subunit gene expression but induces expression of SPG5.

Figure 5—figure supplement 1.

Total RNA was extracted from cells following 1 or 5 days of starvation for nitrogen, carbon, or both nitrogen and carbon, and converted into first-strand cDNA. The relative transcript abundance of various proteasome subunit genes, including CP α- and β-subunits, RP base and lid subunits, the CP capping factor BLM10, the selective proteaphagy receptor CUE5, and the starvation-induced gene SPG5, was determined by quantitative real-time PCR, using the ALG9 and TFC1 genes as internal reference standards. All data points were normalized to non-starved cells. The bars represent the mean (±SD) from three biological replicates, each comprised of three technical replicates.

Given the possibility that Spg5 binds to the RP and helps shepherd the sub-particle into PSGs, as Blm10 appears to do for the CP, we tested for their co-localization by confocal fluorescence microscopy of cells expressing RPN5-GFP and mCherry-SPG5. The mCherry fusion appeared to retain the activity of non-modified Spg5, as its expression could reverse the accelerated turnover of Rpn5-GFP in Δspg5 cells (Figure 4—figure supplement 1B). Under carbon-replete conditions, the two reporters had similar intracellular distributions, with a strong enrichment in the nucleus, moderate signal in the cytoplasm, and little to no signal in the vacuole, similar to that observed with mCherry-Blm10 and Pre10-GFP (Figure 5F). However, unlike with Blm10, mCherry-Spg5 only rarely co-migrated with Rpn5-GFP into PSGs in carbon-starved cells; puncta containing both Rpn5-GFP and mCherry-Spg5 were visible in just 12% of over 200 cells analysed. Instead, the mCherry reporter mostly retained its nuclear/cytoplasmic pattern, implying that Spg5 does not generally follow the RP into PSGs (Figure 5F). Similarly, mCherry-Spg5 only rarely co-localized with PSGs containing Pre10-GFP (in just 6% of over 200 cells; Figure 4—figure supplement 1C). This lack of association was also confirmed by mass spectrometry of 26S proteasomes; whereas Blm10 was easily detected in proteasomes affinity-purified from carbon-starved cells (Marshall et al., 2016), we could not detect Spg5 (data not shown).

The CP and RP are separately delivered to PSGs upon carbon starvation

Previous studies revealed that the CP and RP dissociate upon entry of yeast cultures into stationary phase, presumably because of depleted ATP levels (Bajorek et al., 2003), but that they are eventually found together in the same PSGs (Laporte et al., 2008). While transport of both sub-particles into PSGs could occur following re-assembly into 26S complexes, results by Weberruss et al. (2013) and us (this report) showing that Blm10 and Spg5 mediate separate delivery of the CP and RP, respectively, implied that the two sub-complexes are sequestered individually via distinct pathways that shield each from autophagy. To address this possibility, we exploited strains in which proteasome subunits (Pre1 (β4) from the CP and Rpn11 from the RP) were tagged with Protein A to facilitate their rapid and efficient affinity-purification (Leggett et al., 2005), and analyzed the composition of proteasomes purified from wild-type, Δblm10 and Δspg5 cells after 0, 1, or 5 days of carbon starvation, in search for differential CP versus RP enrichment.

The 26S proteasomes purified from wild-type cells contained the characteristic SDS-PAGE ladder of RP and CP subunits throughout the starvation period, regardless of whether proteasomes were purified via the CP or RP, indicating that stable 26S complexes persist in carbon-starved yeast. Comparisons of core subunits, as detected by silver staining of total protein or by immunoblotting with antibodies against Pre4 (β7), Rpt1, Rpn5 and Rpn8, failed to see changes in relative subunit abundance after 1 and 5 days of carbon starvation versus the non-starved controls (Figure 6A and B). However, when proteasomes were purified via the CP from the Δblm10 and Δspg5 backgrounds, a substantial reduction in the amount of co-purifying RP and its corresponding Rpt1, Rpn5 and Rpn8 subunits was observed as carbon starvation progressed. Similarly, when proteasomes were purified via the RP in these two backgrounds, less CP and its corresponding Pre4 subunit were co-purified (Figure 6A and B). While other scenarios are possible, the most parsimonious is that CP and RP dissociate upon carbon starvation but can be co-purified if both are deposited into PSGs. If one sub-particle is blocked from entry into PSGs, its enrichment during purifications of the other sub-particle is diminished.

Figure 6. The CP and RP dissociate from each other upon carbon starvation and are separately delivered into PSGs.

Figure 6.

(A and B) Yeast proteasomes selectively lose the RP or CP sub-complexes when purified from Δblm10 and Δspg5 cells via the CP or RP, respectively, upon growth on –C medium. PRE1-TEV-ProA or RPN11-TEV-ProA cells with or without the Δblm10 or Δspg5 mutations were switched from nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium to –C medium for the indicated times before affinity purification of proteasomes based on their ProA tags in the presence of ATP. The enriched proteasomes were subjected to SDS-PAGE followed by either staining for total protein with silver (panel A) or by immunoblotting with antibodies specific to subunits of the CP (Pre4) or RP (Rpt1, Rpn5 or Rpn8; panel B). In panel A, the distributions of the core CP and RP subunits are indicated by the brackets, and the position of Blm10 is indicated by the arrowheads. (C) Proteasome CPs remain active under conditions that promote PSG formation, but are less associated with the RP. Cells were grown on +N +C medium and then switched to media lacking either nitrogen (–N), carbon (–C), or both (–N –C) for 1 day. Total protein extracts were then assayed for CP peptidase activity using either Suc-LLVY-amc or Mca-AKVYPYPME-(Dpa)Dnp-amide (LFP) substrates that monitor total CP activity or RP-dependent CP activity, respectively. Black and grey bars represent the mean chymotrypsin-like activity (±SD) in the absence and presence of MG132, respectively, from three independent biological replicates, each comprised of three technical replicates.

Figure 6—source data 1. Source data for Figure 6C.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.022

For further evidence supporting this dissociation, we measured the proteolytic activity of the CP from whole cell extracts prepared 1 day after carbon starvation, when the levels of RP and CP were unaffected (see Figure 1A), using either a substrate effective for the CP alone (Suc-LLVY-amc) or a substrate that requires the RP for import (Mca-AKVYPYPME-Dpa(Dnp)-amide, also known as LFP; Smith et al., 2005). As a control, we also measured CP activity in the rpn5ΔC mutant, which compromises binding of the RP to the CP (Peters et al., 2015). RP-independent CP activity was indistinguishable in cells starved for nitrogen, carbon, or both nitrogen and carbon (Figure 6C), implying that the activity of the CP alone was unaltered by PSG formation. In contrast, RP-dependent CP activity was significantly dampened after carbon and simultaneous nitrogen and carbon starvation, close to that seen for non-starved rpn5ΔC cells, implying that the CP and RP are less associated under these growth conditions (Figure 6C). A similar drop in RP-dependent CP activity was seen for nitrogen-starved cells, in agreement with previous studies showing that the CP and RP separate under this starvation condition as well (Waite et al., 2016; Nemec et al., 2017).

The Ubp3 deubiquitylase is required for CP proteaphagy

In addition to the core autophagy machinery, the deubiquitylase Ubp3 has been connected to proteaphagy in yeast subjected to nitrogen starvation, where it promotes clearance of the CP but not the RP (Waite et al., 2016). Ubp3 has also been implicated in both mitophagy and ribophagy (Kraft et al., 2008; Müller et al., 2015), thus raising the possibility that it has a general role in starvation-induced autophagy of organelles and protein complexes. As such, we examined PSG assembly and proteaphagy in carbon-starved Δblm10, Δnat3 and Δspg5 cells also harboring the Δubp3 mutation by tracking the Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP reporters. As seen above by confocal fluorescence microscopy, delivery of Pre10-GFP into PSGs proceeded normally in wild-type cells and was blocked in both Δblm10 and Δnat3 cells, with the signal instead moving to the vacuole upon carbon starvation (Figure 7A and Figure 7—figure supplement 1A). In Δubp3 cells, the Pre10-GFP signal behaved like wild type and entered PSGs, indicating that Ubp3 is not required for PSG formation. However, when the Δubp3 mutation was combined with either the Δblm10 or Δnat3 mutations, Pre10-GFP failed to enter the vacuole and instead appeared trapped in the nucleus and cytoplasm (Figure 7A and Figure 7—figure supplement 1A). The same pattern was not true for Rpn5-GFP; although this reporter entered PSGs in wild-type cells and vacuoles in Δnat3 and Δspg5 cells upon carbon-starvation, it retained the corresponding responses in Δubp3, Δnat3 Δubp3 and Δspg5 Δubp3 cells (Figure 7B and Figure 7—figure supplement 1B). When then assayed for proteaphagy by the GFP-release assay, we confirmed that Ubp3 selectively affects the CP. Accumulation of free GFP from the Pre10-GFP reporter was accelerated in carbon-starved Δblm10 or Δnat3 cells, but its release was blocked in Δblm10 Δubp3 or Δnat3 Δubp3 cells, while the release of free GFP from the Rpn5-GFP reporter was equally rapid in Δnat3 and Δspg5 cells with or without the Δubp3 mutation (Figure 7C and Figure 7—figure supplement 1C and D).

Figure 7. Carbon starvation-induced proteaphagy of the CP in the absence of Blm10 requires the deubiquitylating enzyme Ubp3.

(A and B) Elimination of Ubp3 suppresses transport of the CP (but not the RP) sub-complex to the vacuole in carbon-starved Δblm10 cells. Cells expressing PRE10-GFP (panel A) or RPN5-GFP (panel B) with or without the Δblm10, Δspg5 and/or Δubp3 mutations were grown on nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium and then switched to –C medium for 24 hr before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy. N, nucleus; V, vacuole; P, PSG. Scale bar, 2 µm. (C) Accelerated proteaphagy of the CP (but not the RP) in carbon-starved Δblm10 cells is blocked by deletion of Ubp3. PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP cells with or without the Δblm10, Δspg5, and/or Δubp3 mutations were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for the indicated times. Total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies, as shown in Figure 1A. Open and closed arrowheads locate the GFP fusion and free GFP, respectively. Immunodetection of histone H3 was used to confirm near equal protein loading. (D) Autophagic degradation of the CP in Δblm10 cells starved for carbon requires active Ubp3 and its co-factor Bre5. PRE10-GFP Δblm10 cells containing the Δbre5 or Δubp3 mutations with or without rescue with HA-tagged Bre5, Ubp3, or mutated versions of Ubp3 lacking the active site cysteine (C469A) or the Bre5 binding site (LFIN-AAAA), were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for the indicated times and assayed for GFP release by immunoblotting as in panel (C). Accumulation of the Bre5-HA, Ubp3-HA, Ubp3(C469A)-HA and Ubp3(LFIN-AAAA)-HA proteins was confirmed by immunoblotting with anti-HA antibodies.

Figure 7.

Figure 7—figure supplement 1. Carbon starvation-induced proteaphagy of the CP in the absence of Nat3 requires Ubp3, but deletion of other deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs) does not impact carbon starvation-induced CP degradation.

Figure 7—figure supplement 1.

(A and B) Elimination of Ubp3 suppresses transport of the CP (but not the RP) sub-complex to the vacuole in carbon-starved Δnat3 cells. Cells expressing PRE10-GFP (panel A) or RPN5-GFP (panel B) with or without the Δnat3 and/or Δubp3 mutations were grown on nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium and then switched to –C medium for 24 hr before imaging by confocal fluorescence microscopy. N, nucleus; V, vacuole; P, PSG. Scale bar, 2 µm. (C and D) Accelerated proteaphagy of the CP (but not the RP) in carbon-starved Δnat3 cells is blocked by deletion of Ubp3. PRE10-GFP (panel C) or RPN5-GFP (panel D) cells with or without the Δnat3 and/or Δubp3 mutations were switched from +N +C medium to –C medium for the indicated times. Total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies, as shown in Figure 1A. Open and closed arrowheads locate the GFP fusion and free GFP, respectively. Immunodetection of histone H3 was used to confirm near equal protein loading. (E) Only the Ubp3 DUB is required for carbon starvation-induced proteaphagy of the CP. PRE10-GFP cells containing the Δblm10 mutation together with the indicated DUB deletions were switched from nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium to medium lacking carbon (–C) and cell aliquots were taken after 0 or 24 hr. Total protein extracts were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis, as in panel (C).

Ubp3 associates with a co-factor, Bre5, which promotes its activity (Cohen et al., 2003; Kraft et al., 2008). From analysis of Δbre5 cells, we found that this co-factor is also required for carbon starvation-induced proteaphagy of the CP. When the Pre10-GFP reporter was examined in Δblm10 Δbre5 cells by the GFP-release assay, little free GFP accumulated even after prolonged carbon starvation, while its accumulation was robust after 1 day in Δblm10 cells wild-type for BRE5 (Figure 7D). Complementation studies showed that active Ubp3 and Bre5 are required for proteaphagy of the CP in Δblm10 cells. Whereas UBP3-HA and BRE5-HA transgenes readily restored proteaphagy of the CP in Δblm10 Δubp3 and Δblm10 Δbre5 cells, respectively, similar transgenes expressing alanine substitution mutants of Ubp3 replacing either the catalytic cysteine at residue 469 (UBP3(C469A)-HA; Cohen et al., 2003) or the Bre5-binding site at residues 208 to 211 (UBP3(LFIN-AAAA)-HA; Li et al., 2005) were ineffective (Figure 7D).

Although Ubp3 appears vital for both nitrogen starvation- and carbon starvation-induced proteaphagy (this study; Waite et al., 2016), possible roles for the other 19 yeast DUBs remained unexplored. Consequently, we examined most other ubiquitin-specific DUBs in yeast (the exceptions being the essential DUB Rpn11 and Yuh1, which has greater specificity for the ubiquitin relative Rub1). While accumulation of free GFP from Pre10-GFP upon carbon starvation was clearly evident in the Δblm10 mutant and was blocked in the Δblm10 Δubp3 double mutant, deletion of the 17 other DUBs individually had no effect (Figure 7—figure supplement 1E). These data imply that there is a specific role for Ubp3 in proteaphagy, as opposed to deubiquitylation more generally.

PSG formation promotes resumption of cell growth upon exit from starvation

Because PSGs appear to protect proteasomes from autophagic degradation in response to carbon starvation, we speculated that these granules might be beneficial for cell survival. In particular, the sequestration of proteasomes into PSGs could help cells resume growth as carbon availability improves by providing a rapidly re-mobilizable cache of proteasomes. To test this hypothesis, we examined the growth resumption of yeast cultures in nutrient-rich medium following exposure to carbon and/or nitrogen starvation using mutant backgrounds (Δblm10, Δnat3, Δspg5 and/or Δupb3) or culture conditions (2-DG) that impact PSG accumulation and/or proteaphagy (see above).

Initially, wild-type yeast cells were subjected to 24 hr of carbon, nitrogen, or simultaneous carbon and nitrogen starvation, before being returned to nutrient-rich medium, at which point their ability to resume growth was monitored by measurement of culture density (Figure 8—figure supplement 1A). While cells not subjected to starvation grew rapidly without lag, reaching an OD600 of more than 8.0 after 6 hr of growth, cells subjected to nitrogen starvation suffered a 3 to 4 hr lag before resuming growth, reaching an OD600 of only ~2.0 after 6 hr (Figure 8A and B). By contrast, carbon starvation only modestly delayed growth resumption by itself, while remarkably accelerating re-growth of cells also missing nitrogen, indicating that the growth defect caused by nitrogen starvation can be partially overcome by a lack of carbon, in much the same way as carbon starvation protects proteasomes from autophagy even when cells are starved for nitrogen (Figure 8A and B). As a further connection of this growth phenotype to proteasome levels, we exposed nitrogen- and/or carbon-starved cells to the amino acid analogs canavanine and p-fluorophenylalanine; survival under these conditions would be aided by the capacity of proteasomes to clear abnormal proteins incorporating these analogs (Finley et al., 2012). Whereas culture growth in the presence of the analogs was dramatically impaired in cells pre-exposed to nitrogen starvation (~10% of non-treated cells after 6 hr), which would have depleted proteasomes by autophagy, culture growth was better for analog-treated cells starved for either carbon alone or nitrogen and carbon together, and was comparable to non-starved cells (~30% of untreated cells), all three of which would have avoided autophagic clearance of their proteasomes (Figure 8C and D).

Figure 8. Protecting yeast proteasomes in PSGs upon starvation increases cell fitness.

(A) Delayed resumption of yeast cell growth following nitrogen starvation is reversed by simultaneous carbon starvation. Cells were grown in nutrient-rich (N + C) medium and then switched to either medium lacking nitrogen (–N), carbon (–C), or both (–N –C) for 24 hr. Near equal numbers of cells were then re-suspended in +N +C medium, and monitored for the resumption of cell growth by measuring culture density at OD600 over the next 12 hr. (B) Quantification of cell growth following nutrient starvation. Cells were grown as in panel (A), and cell growth was quantified by measuring culture density at OD600 6 hr after re-suspension in +N +C medium. (C) Reduced cell growth and increased susceptibility to amino acid analogs following nitrogen starvation is reversed by simultaneous carbon starvation. Cells were treated as in panel (A), and near equal numbers of cells were re-suspended in +N +C medium. Five-fold serial dilutions were then spotted onto synthetic complete medium with or without 5 μM canavanine (Can) or 25 mM p-fluorophenylalanine (p–FP) and incubated at 30°C for 36 hr. (D) Effects of amino acid anaolgs on cell growth following nutrient starvation. Cells were grown and treated as in panel (A), re-suspended in +N +C medium, and the resumption of cell growth in the presence or absence of 5 μM Can or 25 mM p-FP was monitored by measuring culture density at OD600 after 6 hr. The OD600 values in the presence of each analog were then normalized to those in the absence of the analogs. (E) Delayed resumption of cell growth following nitrogen starvation is reversed by pre-treatment with 2-DG. Cells were grown in +N +C medium with or without 5 mM 2-DG and 2 mM NaN3, and then switched to medium lacking nitrogen for 24 hr. Near equal numbers of cells were then re-suspended in +N +C medium, and the resumption of cell growth was monitored as in panel (A). (F) Quantification of cell growth during nitrogen starvation after a pre-treatment with 2-DG. Cells were grown and treated as in panel (E), and cell growth was quantified as in panel (B). (G) Reduced cell growth following nitrogen starvation is reversed by pre-treatment with 2-DG. Cells were treated as in panel (E), and near equal numbers of cells were re-suspended in +N +C medium. Five-fold serial dilutions were then spotted onto synthetic complete medium and incubated at 30°C for 36 hr. (H) Cells lacking BLM10 delay resumption of growth following carbon starvation, which is reversed by simultaneous deletion of UBP3. Cells were grown in +N +C medium and then switched to –C medium for 24 hr. Near equal numbers of cells were then re-suspended in +N +C medium, and the resumption of cell growth was monitored as in panel (A). Left panel, non-starved cells; right panel, carbon-starved cells. (I) Quantification of cell growth for strains lacking BLM10 and/or UBP3 following carbon starvation. Cells were grown and treated as in panel (H), and cell growth was quantified as in panel (B). (J) Reduced growth of Δblm10 cells following carbon starvation is reversed by deletion of UBP3. Cells were treated as in panel (H), and near equal numbers of cells were re-suspended, spotted onto synthetic complete medium and incubated as in panel (G). (K) Cells lacking NAT3 delay resumption of growth following carbon starvation, which is reversed by simultaneous deletion of UBP3. Cells were grown and treated as in panel (H), and the resumption of cell growth was monitored as in panel (A). Left panel, non-starved cells; right panel, carbon-starved cells. (L) Quantification of cell growth for strains lacking NAT3 and/or UBP3 following carbon starvation. Cells were grown and treated as in panel (H), and cell growth was quantified as in panel (B). (M) Reduced growth of Δnat3 cells following carbon starvation is reversed by deletion of UBP3. Cells were treated as in panel (H), and near equal numbers of cells were re-suspended, spotted onto synthetic complete medium and incubated as in panel (G). (N) Cells lacking SPG5 have slightly delayed resumption of growth following carbon starvation, but this resumption is not reversed by simultaneous deletion of UBP3. Cells were grown and treated as I panel (H), and the resumption of cell growth was monitored as in panel (A). Left panel, non-starved cells; right panel, carbon-starved cells. (O) Quantification of cell growth for strains lacking SPG5 and/or UBP3 following carbon starvation. Cells were grown and treated as in panel (H), and cell growth was quantified as in panel (B). (P) Reduced growth of Δspg5 cells following carbon starvation is not reversed by deletion of UBP3. Cells were treated as in panel (H), and near equal numbers of cells were re-suspended, spotted onto synthetic complete medium and incubated as in panel (G). Bars in panels B, D, F, I, L and O represent the mean (±SD) of three independent biological replicates. Letters represent data points that are statistically significantly different from the control (p<0.05).

Figure 8—source data 1. Source data for Figure 8A, B, D, E, F, H, I, K, L, N and O.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.027
Figure 8—source data 2. Source data for Figure 8—figure supplement 1B, C, E, F, G, H, J, K, M and N.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.028

Figure 8.

Figure 8—figure supplement 1. Defects in cell fitness caused by failure to form PSGs in the Δblm10, Δspg5 and Δnat3 mutants can be rescued by expression of wild-type transgenes, or by blocking autophagy.

Figure 8—figure supplement 1.

(A) A schematic illustrating the experimental design and time courses used for the yeast growth assays shown in Figure 8 and Figure 8—figure supplement 1. (B) The delayed resumption of Δblm10 cell growth following carbon starvation is rescued by expression of mCherry-BLM10. Cells were grown in nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium and then switched to medium containing (+C) or lacking (–C) carbon for 24 hr. Near equal numbers of cells were then re-suspended in +N +C medium, and the resumption of cell growth was monitored by measuring culture density at OD600 over the next 12 hr. (C) Quantification of cell growth for strains lacking BLM10 and/or expressing mCherry-BLM10 following carbon starvation. Cells were grown and treated as in panel (B), and cell growth was quantified by measuring culture density at OD6006 hr after resumption of growth in +C medium. (D) Reduced growth of Δblm10 cells following carbon starvation is reversed by expression of mCherry-BLM10. Cells were treated as in panel (B), and near equal numbers of cells were re-suspended in +C medium. Five-fold serial dilutions were then spotted onto synthetic complete medium and incubated at 30°C for 36 hr. (E) The growth of Δblm10 Δubp3 cells following carbon starvation is delayed by expression of wild-type UBP3-HA, but not of the catalytically inactive UBP3(C469A)-HA version or the UBP3(LFIN-AAAA)-HA variant defective in binding Bre5. Cells were grown, treated and monitored as in panel (B). Left panel, non-starved cells; right panel, carbon-starved cells. (F) Quantification of cell growth for strains lacking BLM10 and/or UBP3, with or without expression of wild-type UBP3-HA or the UBP3(C469A)-HA or UBP3(LFIN-AAAA)-HA variants, following carbon starvation. Cells were grown and treated as in panel (B), and cell growth was quantified as in panel (C). (G) The delayed resumption of Δspg5 cell growth following carbon starvation is rescued by expression of mCherry-SPG5. Cells were grown, treated and monitored as in panel (B). Left panel, non-starved cells; right panel, carbon-starved cells. (H) Quantification of cell growth for strains lacking SPG5 and/or expressing mCherry-SPG5 following carbon starvation. Cells were grown and treated as in panel (B), and cell growth was quantified as in panel (C). (I) Reduced growth of Δspg5 cells following carbon starvation is reversed by expression of mCherry-SPG5. Cells were treated as in panel (B), and near equal numbers of cells were re-suspended, spotted onto synthetic complete medium and incubated as in panel (D). (J) The delayed resumption of Δnat3 cell growth following carbon starvation is rescued by expression of NAT3-HA, but not the catalytically inactive NAT3(C97A)-HA variant. Cells were grown, treated and monitored as in panel (B). Left panel, non-starved cells; right panel, carbon-starved cells. (K) Quantification of cell growth for strains lacking NAT3, and/or expressing NAT3-HA or NAT3(C97A)-HA, following carbon starvation. Cells were grown and treated as in panel (B), and cell growth was quantified as in panel (C). (L) Reduced growth of Δnat3 cells following carbon starvation is reversed by expression of NAT3-HA, but not the catalytically inactive NAT3(C97A)-HA variant. Cells were treated as in panel (B), and near equal numbers of cells were re-suspended, spotted onto synthetic complete medium and incubated as in panel (D). (M) The delayed resumption of Δblm10 cell growth following carbon starvation is partially rescued by the Δatg7 mutant that eliminates autophagy. Cells were grown, treated and monitored as in panel (B). Left panel, non-starved cells; right panel, carbon-starved cells. (N) Quantification of yeast cell growth for strains lacking BLM10 and/or ATG7 following carbon starvation. Cells were grown and treated as in panel (B), and cell growth was quantified as in panel (C). (O) Reduced growth of Δblm10 cells following carbon starvation is reversed by disruption of autophagy. Cells were treated as in panel (B), and near equal numbers of cells were re-suspended, spotted onto synthetic complete medium and incubated as in panel (D). Bars in panels C, F, H, K, and N represent the mean (±SD) of three independent biological replicates. Letters represent data points that are statistically significantly different from the control (p<0.05).

As a complementary approach, we examined the resumption of growth for wild-type cells first treated with 2-DG for 6 hr prior to (and during) nitrogen starvation, which promotes PSG formation and protects against proteaphagy (Figure 3E and F), and again monitored the ability of these cells to resume growth upon a switch back to carbon- and nitrogen-rich medium lacking 2-DG. As above with simultaneous nitrogen and carbon starvation, we found that cells pre-treated with 2-DG prior to the onset of nitrogen starvation resumed growth more rapidly than cells subjected to nitrogen starvation alone (Figure 8E, F and G). We next investigated the growth resumption of cells harbouring the Δblm10, Δnat3 and Δspg5 mutations described above. None of the mutants impaired the robust resumption of cell growth in cultures transferred from nutrient-rich medium back into nutrient-rich medium. However, as predicted, Δnat3, Δblm10 and Δspg5 cells, which block PSG formation and accelerate proteaphagy, showed a substantial delay in growth resumption after exposure to carbon starvation as compared to wild-type cells (Figure 8H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O and P). In agreement with its partial impact on PSG assembly and proteaphagy, the delayed growth response of Δspg5 cells was milder than those of Δnat3 and Δblm10 cells (Figure 8N and O). In all cases, these growth defects could be rescued by expressing the corresponding wild-type transgenes (mCherry-BLM10, mCherry-SPG5 or NAT3-HA), but not one encoding the catalytically inactive C97A variant of Nat3 (Figure 8—figure supplement 1B, C, D, G, H, I, J, K and L).

Based on the observation that the Δubp3 mutation will reverse the effects of the Δblm10 and Δnat3 mutations in allowing proteaphagy in the absence of PSG assembly (Figure 7A and C, and Figure 7—figure supplement 1A and C; Waite et al., 2016), we additionally investigated how the growth of carbon-starved Δubp3, Δblm10 Δupb3 and Δnat3 Δubp3 cells resumed in nutrient-rich medium. Whereas the growth of Δupb3 cells was mostly indistinguishable from wild-type, and both Δblm10 and Δnat3 cells showed a substantial delay in growth resumption following carbon starvation, the growth of Δblm10 Δupb3 and Δnat3 Δubp3 cells was intermediate, indicating that the lack of Ubp3 can partially suppress the lack of Blm10 or Nat3, as it does for proteaphagy (Figure 8H, I, J, K, L and M). Again the effects of Ubp3 required its DUB activity, as expression of UBP3-HA restored the slow growth phenotype to Δblm10 Δupb3 cells, while the catalytically dead C496A mutant, or the FLIN-AAAA variant that cannot bind Bre5, were ineffective (Figure 8—figure supplement 1E and F). By contrast, Δspg5 Δubp3 cells did not show improved growth recovery following carbon starvation compared to Δspg5 cells alone (Figure 8N, O and P), in agreement with the lack of a role for Ubp3 in delivering RPs into PSGs (Figure 7B and C, and Figure 7—figure supplement 1B and D).

For further support that the autophagic degradation of proteasomes is at least partly responsible for delaying the resumption of culture growth following carbon starvation, we assayed the growth of Δblm10 cells in which the core autophagy component Atg7 was eliminated. The Δatg7, Δblm10 and Δatg7 Δblm10 cells all grew at similar rates in the absence of starvation, while Δatg7 and Δblm10 cells had moderate and strong delays in growth resumption, respectively, following carbon starvation (Figure 8—figure supplement 1M, N and O). Strikingly, Δatg7 Δblm10 cells also resumed growth more rapidly than Δblm10 cells alone, implying that an active autophagy system plays a role in delaying the growth resumption of Δblm10 cells by clearing proteasomes in the absence of PSG assembly. Taken together, our data are consistent with a model whereby cells that can protect proteasomes from autophagy by sequestering them in PSGs are better able to resume growth when carbon availability and energy status improve.

PSG assembly and the protection of proteasomes from proteaphagy are conserved in Arabidopsis

To test if PSGs represent a conserved mechanism to safeguard proteasomes from proteaphagy, we examined PSG dynamics and proteaphagy in Arabidopsis, using previously developed homozygous PAG1 (α7)-GFP and RPN5a-GFP reporters for the CP and RP, respectively (Marshall et al., 2015). Here, the GFP-tagged subunits expressed from their native promoters were used to rescue pag1-1 and rpn5a-2 null mutant lines; these transgenic proteins fully rescue the embryo lethality and severe dwarf phenotypes of the corresponding homozygous mutations, and were faithfully integrated into the 26S particle (Book et al., 2009; Marshall et al., 2015). Five-day-old seedlings were examined, which have almost fully completed the transition to photoautotrophic growth, thus rendering them sensitive to light and external supplies of fixed carbon (Penfield et al., 2005; Gao et al., 2015).

When we monitored proteaphagy by the GFP-release assay in seedlings grown in nitrogen- and carbon-rich medium, we observed a modest accumulation of free GFP (Figure 9A) which likely reflected constitutive proteaphagy, as evidenced by its absence in mutants eliminating the core autophagic machinery (Marshall et al., 2015). As described previously, free GFP accumulated and the PAG1-GFP and RPN5a-GFP fusions disappeared as the seedlings were starved for nitrogen, which became obvious by measuring the ratio of free GFP to the corresponding fusions (Figure 9A and B). Conversely, breakdown of the GFP reporters was not evident in seedlings starved for fixed carbon (achieved by omitting sucrose from the growth medium and placing the plants in the dark; Thompson et al., 2005) and was equally absent in seedlings starved for nitrogen and fixed carbon simultaneously (Figure 9A and B). Bulk autophagy was accelerated under all three conditions, as judged by release of free GFP from the GFP-ATG8a reporter (Figure 9A and B), indicating that proteaphagy in Arabidopsis is selectively suppressed by fixed-carbon starvation, as it is in yeast.

Figure 9. Fixed-carbon starvation selectively suppresses proteaphagy and promotes the formation of PSG-like structures in Arabidopsis.

Figure 9.

(A) Measurement of proteaphagy upon nitrogen and/or fixed-carbon starvation in 5 day-old Arabidopsis seedlings by monitoring the release of free GFP from the CP and RP subunits PAG1-GFP or RPN5a-GFP, respectively. PAG1:PAG1-GFP pag1-1 and RPN5a:RPN5a-GFP rpn5a-2 seedlings were switched from growth in the light on nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium to either growth in the light on medium lacking nitrogen (–N), or growth in the dark on media lacking either carbon alone (–C) or both nitrogen and carbon (–N –C). Total protein extracts prepared from seedlings harvested at the indicated times were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies. Open and closed arrowheads locate the GFP fusion and free GFP, respectively. Immunodetection of histone H3 was used to confirm near equal protein loading. Rates of bulk autophagy were measured by the release of GFP from GFP-ATG8a in the same manner as above (right panel). (B) Quantification of the free GFP/GFP fusion ratios of the PAG1-GFP, RPN5a-GFP and GFP-ATG8a reporters upon switching from +N +C medium to –N, –C, or –N –C media. Levels of the GFP fusion and free GFP were determined by densitometric scans of the immunoblots shown in panel (A). Each data point represents the mean (±SD) of three independent biological replicates. (C) Proteasomes accumulate in autophagic bodies within the vacuole upon nitrogen starvation, but not fixed-carbon starvation. Five-day-old seedlings expressing PAG1-GFP, RPN5a-GFP or GFP-ATG8a were grown on +N +C medium and then switched to –N or –C media and treated with 1 µM ConA for 16 hr before imaging of the root lower elongation zone by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Scale bar, 10 µm. (D) Proteasomes assemble into large cytoplasmic PSG-like structures upon fixed-carbon starvation, instead of the smaller vacuolar puncta seen upon nitrogen starvation. Five-day-old seedlings expressing PAG1-GFP, RPN5a-GFP or GFP-ATG8a were grown, treated and imaged as in panel C, but focusing on cells closer to the root tip. Scale bar, 2 µm. (E) The PSG-like structures that form upon fixed-carbon starvation are not decorated with ATG8a. Roots from 5-day-old seedlings expressing PAG1-GFP and mCherry-ATG8a were grown, treated and imaged as in panel C. Shown are the GFP, mCherry and merged fluorescence channels. Scale bar, 5 µm. (F) The accumulation of PSG-like structures upon fixed-carbon starvation is rapidly reversible upon replenishment of the carbon source. Roots from 5 day-old seedlings expressing PAG1-GFP were grown on +N +C medium, switched to –C medium for 16 hr, and then returned to +N +C medium for the indicated times before imaging as in panel C. Scale bar, 10 µm. In panels C, D, E and F: N, nucleus; V, vacuole; P, PSG.

Figure 9—source data 1. Source data for Figure 9B.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.030

To assess accumulation of autophagic vesicles and possible assembly of PSGs, we examined the distribution of the PAG1-GFP and RPN5a-GFP reporters by confocal fluorescence microscopy of root cells treated with concanamycin A (ConA), which stabilizes vacuolar autophagic bodies and thus enhances their visualization (Thompson et al., 2005; Marshall et al., 2015). As shown in Figure 9C, both reporters were concentrated in the nucleus along with a diffuse cytoplasmic signal under nutrient-replete growth conditions, in agreement with the largely nuclear distribution of plant proteasomes (Book et al., 2009; Marshall et al., 2015). This distribution changed substantially upon nitrogen starvation, where the dramatic accumulation of small (~1 μm) autophagic bodies in vacuoles became evident, similar to those seen with the GFP-ATG8a reporter. This re-location was not seen in fixed carbon-starved roots, even though GFP-ATG8a still moved to autophagic bodies. Instead, large, bright puncta (~5 μm) resembling PSGs accumulated in the cytoplasm, concomitant with a substantial loss of nuclear fluorescence (Figure 9C and D). These foci were not similarly decorated with mCherry-ATG8a, implying that they are not phagophores or autophagosomes that sequester cargo prior to their vacuolar deposition (Figure 9E). As with PSGs in yeast, accumulation of these puncta in Arabidopsis was also readily reversible, with the fluorescence signal from the bright PAG1-GFP foci rapidly dispersing back to a diffuse cytosolic and nuclear pattern within 1 to 2 hr following return of the seedlings to sucrose-containing medium and light (Figure 9F). These puncta were almost entirely absent 4 hr after the cessation of starvation (Figure 9F).

To help demonstrate that these puncta were PSGs, as well as investigate their ability to suppress proteaphagy, we analysed the fate of the PAG1-GFP and RPN5a-GFP reporters in Arabidopsis mutants missing the plant ortholog of Blm10, known as PA200 (Book et al., 2010). When assayed by the GFP-release assay, fixed-carbon starvation did not accelerate the accumulation of free GFP from the RPN5a-GFP fusion in either wild-type plants or plants homozygous for the null pa200-2 and pa200-3 alleles (Figure 10A and B; Book et al., 2010), in agreement with our observations that yeast Δblm10 cells do not accelerate RP autophagy (Figure 4C). However, for the PAG1-GFP reporter, proteaphagy upon fixed-carbon starvation was now evident in the pa200-2 and pa200-3 mutants, as it was for yeast Δblm10 cells, with the accumulation of free GFP and loss of the PAG1-GFP fusion clearly seen (Figure 10A and B).

Figure 10. The formation of PSG-like structures in Arabidopsis upon fixed-carbon starvation requires the Blm10 ortholog PA200 and is independent of autophagy.

(A) Elimination of PA200 accelerates proteaphagy of the CP, but not the RP, in response to fixed-carbon starvation. PAG1:PAG1-GFP pag1-1 and RPN5a:RPN5a-GFP rpn5a-2 seedlings with or without the pa200-2 or pa200-3 mutations were switched from growth in the light on nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium to either growth in the light on medium lacking nitrogen (–N), or growth in the dark on media lacking either carbon alone (–C) or both nitrogen and carbon (–N –C). Total protein extracts prepared from seedlings harvested at the indicated times were assayed for GFP release by immunoblot analysis with anti-GFP antibodies. Open and closed arrowheads indicate the GFP fusion and free GFP, respectively. Immunodetection of histone H3 was used to confirm near equal protein loading. (B) Quantification of the free GFP/GFP fusion ratios of the PAG1-GFP and RPN5a-GFP reporters in wild-type (WT), pa200-2 or pa200-3 seedlings upon switching to –C medium. Levels of the GFP fusion and free GFP were determined by densitometric scans of the immunoblots shown in panel (A). Each data point represents the mean (±SD) of three independent biological replicates. (C) PAG1-GFP fails to coalesce into cytoplasmic PSG-like structures upon fixed-carbon starvation in the absence of PA200, and instead appears in vacuolar autophagic bodies. Five-day-old PAG1:PAG1-GFP pag1-1 seedlings with or without the pa200-2 or pa200-3 mutations were grown on +N +C medium and then transferred to –C medium containing 1 µM ConA and subjected to darkness for 16 hr. Cells were imaged by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Scale bar, 2 µm. (D) The cytoplasmic PSG-like structures containing PAG1-GFP form independently of autophagy. PAG1:PAG1-GFP pag1-1 seedlings with or without the atg7-2 mutation were grown on +N +C medium and then transferred to –N or –C media (in the light or dark, respectively) containing 1 µM ConA for 16 hr. Cells were imaged by confocal fluorescence microscopy as in panel (C). Scale bar, 10 µm. In panels C and D: N, nucleus; V, vacuole; P, PSG.

Figure 10—source data 1. Source data for Figure 10B.
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.033

Figure 10.

Figure 10—figure supplement 1. Cytosolic PSG-like structures form in Arabidopsis in the absence of concanamycin A (ConA) treatment.

Figure 10—figure supplement 1.

Proteasomes accumulate in PSG-like foci upon fixed-carbon starvation even in the absence of treatment with ConA, which is required to stabilize autophagic bodies within the vacuole. Five-day-old PAG1:PAG1-GFP pag1-1 seedlings were switched from growth in the light on nutrient-rich (+N +C) medium to either growth in the light on medium lacking nitrogen (–N), or growth in the dark on media lacking carbon (–C) for 24 hr before imaging of the root lower elongation zone by confocal fluorescence microscopy. Whereas PSG-like foci are observed in the cytosol upon fixed-carbon starvation, vacuolar autophagic bodies are not observed upon nitrogen starvation due to their rapid degradation in the vacuole in the absence of ConA. Scale bar, 10 µm.

When similarly analysed by confocal fluorescence microscopy, we could easily detect bright cytoplasmic foci reminiscent of PSGs in PAG1-GFP roots, but not in roots also missing PA200 (Figure 10C). Instead, much smaller autophagic bodies containing PAG1-GFP accumulated in pa200-2 and pa200-3 vacuoles. Formation of the bright cytoplasmic foci did not depend on the core autophagic machinery, as their appearance after fixed-carbon starvation was still robust in homozygous atg7-2 seedlings (Figure 10D). They were also clearly visible when the seedlings were starved for fixed carbon in the absence of ConA treatment, indicating that they did not reside in the vacuole (Figure 10—figure supplement 1). Taken together, our data point to Arabidopsis also generating PSGs during carbon starvation, thus providing a second kingdom that assembles these proteaphagy-protecting condensates.

Discussion

Given the critical roles for the UPS and autophagy in cell regulation, maintaining amino acid supply, and mitigating the toxic effects of aggregation-prone proteins, it is unsurprising that these pathways are highly regulated (Collins and Goldberg, 2017; Dikic, 2017). The activity and abundance of the proteasome in particular are tightly controlled by a variety of mechanisms, including the autophagic clearance of inactive or excess particles (Marshall et al., 2015; Marshall et al., 2016; Marshall and Vierstra, 2015; Waite et al., 2016; Cohen-Kaplan et al., 2016; Nemec et al., 2017). In this study, we further investigated starvation-induced proteaphagy in yeast and Arabidopsis and surprisingly found that, while proteasomes are rapidly eliminated during nitrogen starvation, they remain stable in response to carbon starvation, even though bulk autophagy is up-regulated. Instead, mature proteasomes exit the nucleus and accumulate in cytoplasmic PSGs, the formation of which has previously been reported to protect yeast cells against stress and confer fitness during aging (van Deventer et al., 2015). Although the appearance of PSGs in quiescent yeast cells has long been known (Laporte et al., 2008), their function(s) have remained obscure.

Here, we demonstrated an inverse relationship between PSG accumulation and proteaphagy, where promoting PSG assembly protects proteasomes from autophagy, while blocking delivery into PSGs encourages their degradation. During the PSG assembly process, the CP and RP appear to separately coalesce, such that they accumulate in PSGs even in the absence of the other sub-particle. An array of cell fitness studies in turn demonstrated that a failure to store proteasomes in PSGs directs them to proteaphagy, which substantially delays the resumption of growth when carbon-starved yeast cells are re-fed. The response can even been seen in cells starved for nitrogen and treated with 2-DG, which supresses ATP levels, indicating that PSGs are not solely assembled in the absence of carbon but are more generally tied to the energy status of yeast cells (this study; Gu et al., 2017). Taken together, we propose that entry into PSGs shields proteasomes from proteaphagic breakdown, and instead creates a reservoir of stored proteasomes that can be rapidly re-mobilized upon the resumption of cell growth and/or when proteolytic demand rises. While we cannot exclude the remote possibility that PSGs also have alternative functions, and/or that the ability of the various factors studied here to protect proteasomes from autophagy arises from processes unrelated to PSGs, the sum of our results strongly converges to this conclusion. Presumably, the ability to rapidly restore proteasome capacity avoids the need to re-build the proteasome pool de novo, which would be essential for the proper regulation of cell division and other growth-promoting processes. The inverse relationship between PSGs and proteaphagy, and the requirement of Blm10/PA200 for CP aggregation, were also demonstrated in Arabidopsis, indicating that PSGs represent a conserved mechanism for proteasome protection.

We confirmed the involvement of several factors previously reported to influence PSG formation, including the NatB N-terminal acetylation complex, the C-terminus of the proteasomal DUB Rpn11, the proteasome capping factor Blm10/PA200, intracellular pH, and energy levels (Peters et al., 2013; Saunier et al., 2013; Weberruss et al., 2013; van Deventer et al., 2015). How these seemingly unlinked factors work together to condense proteasomes into PSGs remains largely unknown. A number of yeast proteasome subunits are acetylated (Hirano et al., 2016), with modification of Pre1 (β4), Rpt3 and Rpn11 being specifically ascribed to NatB (Kimura et al., 2000; Kimura et al., 2003), although the functions of these modifications are not known. Likewise, while the deubiquitylating activity of Rpn11 is well positioned at the entrance to the substrate channel in the 26S complex to impact ubiquitin recycling (Collins and Goldberg, 2017), the function(s) of the C-terminal amino acids mutated in the rpn11-m5 allele remain(s) unclear.

The precise role of Blm10/PA200 also remains enigmatic, with various reports proposing that it helps assemble and stabilize the stacked CP barrel prior to RP docking (Schmidt et al., 2005; Sadre-Bazzaz et al., 2010; Dange et al., 2011). However, Δblm10 strains also display numerous pleiotropic phenotypes associated with genome instability and DNA repair, including reduced cell viability and susceptibility to DNA damaging agents (Schmidt et al., 2005). Besides promoting entry of the CP in PSGs, Blm10 bound to PSG-localized CPs could promote the rapid nuclear resorption of the CP or singly capped proteasomes upon restoration of cell growth, based on its ability to facilitate their nuclear import (Weberruss et al., 2013). It is also conceivable the Blm10 prevents inadvertent proteolysis by the CP after Blm10-CP particles coalesce into PSGs by covering the substrate entry pore of the CP (Schmidt et al., 2005; Sadre-Bazzaz et al., 2010). Regardless of its activities, we found that Blm10 also becomes a target of autophagy upon nitrogen starvation, presumably because of its association with the CP.

In addition, we identified an unanticipated role for Spg5 in delivery of the yeast RP into PSGs. In contrast to the absolute requirement of Blm10 for CP delivery, Spg5 was not essential for the RP, but its absence substantially delayed PSG entry. Spg5 was previous shown to bind free RPs and to be important for cell viability during stationary phase (Hanna et al., 2012), likely by safeguarding proteasomes. How Spg5 promotes delivery of RPs into PSGs is unknown. At least with respect to carbon-starved cells, we did not find Spg5 bound to proteasomes by mass spectrometry of purified preparations, nor did we detect consistent co-localization of Spg5 with PSGs by confocal fluorescence microscopy, implying that, unlike Blm10, Spg5 does not follow proteasomes (or at least the RP) into these granules. Given the possibility that orthologs of Spg5 exist beyond yeast (like Blm10), we search for relatives in other eukaryotes by amino acid sequence similarity; while weak sequence homologs were found in other fungi, they were absent in plants and metazoans, suggesting either that Spg5 is a fungi-specific factor, or that the Spg5 sequence has evolved considerably.

Ubp3 was previously shown to be important for proteaphagy upon nitrogen starvation (Waite et al., 2016). We confirmed this observation and also showed that Upb3 is critical upon carbon starvation once the transport of proteasomes (or just the CP) into PSGs is blocked. Collectively, these data add proteaphagy to the reported roles for Ubp3 during ribophagy in response to nitrogen starvation (Kraft et al., 2008) and in negatively regulating mitophagy (Müller et al., 2015). Ubp3 activity is also required for the efficient formation of stress granules and processing bodies in response to heat stress, sodium azide treatment, or entry into stationary phase (Nostramo et al., 2016), but not for PSG assembly (this study), implying that this DUB is differentially required for the formation of various cytoplasmic puncta.

While complementation studies confirmed that the catalytic activity of Ubp3 and its interaction with its co-factor Bre5 are important for proteaphagy, the identity of its target(s) remains unknown. Based on the observations that: (i) proteasomes are ubiquitylated (Besche et al., 2014; Kim et al., 2013; Marshall et al., 2015; Marshall et al., 2016); (ii) Ubp3 interacts directly with proteasomes (Fehlker et al., 2003; Mao and Smerdon, 2010); and (iii) free ubiquitin has been detected in PSGs and promotes their appearance (Gu et al., 2017), it is possible that direct deubiquitylation of one or more proteasome subunit(s) is essential for PSG condensation. However, immunoblotting of proteasomes purified before and during nitrogen and carbon starvation did not detect changes in overall ubiquitylation of the particle (data not shown), as has been seen upon proteasome inactivation (Marshall et al., 2015; Marshall et al., 2016). Alternatively, it is possible that deubiquitylation of a hypothetical autophagy receptor permits binding to proteasomes and/or Atg8 upon starvation. Clearly, the involvement of proteasome ubiquitylation in IPOD-mediated proteaphagy of inactive proteasomes, and of Ubp3 in supressing starvation-induced proteaphagy, places ubiquitin as a critical effector of proteasome dynamics, as well as being essential for proteasome substrate recruitment (Collins and Goldberg, 2017; Dikic, 2017; Gu et al., 2017). Further quantitative analysis of the ubiquitylation landscape of cells subjected to starvation in the presence and absence of Ubp3 will likely be required to differentiate the above possibilities.

How PSGs assemble and are able to shield proteasomes from proteaphagy is unclear. Organisms in natural environments frequently encounter nutrient excess, nutrient deprivation, and rapid shifts between these two extremes, with growth under carbon stress in particular known to trigger the rapid re-organization of the cytoplasm and other compartments to promote cell survival (Lee et al., 2016; Saarikangas and Barral, 2016; Kaganovich, 2017). Included is the appearance of large, highly dynamic, membrane-less inclusions that can selectively partition individual proteins, biochemical pathways or cytotoxic protein aggregates away from the cellular milieu (Narayanaswamy et al., 2009; O'Connell et al., 2014; Petrovska et al., 2014; Shah et al., 2014; Suresh et al., 2015; Franzmann et al., 2018). Besides PSGs, examples include hundreds of yeast proteins that condense into so-called stress granules during heat stress, mRNA and associated RNA-binding proteins that assemble into ribonucleoprotein granules under osmotic stress, and IPODs that concentrate amyloidogenic protein aggregates. As with PSGs, some of these inclusions are thought to serve protective roles (Saarikangas and Barral, 2016; Kaganovich, 2017; Mateju et al., 2017; Franzmann et al., 2018). Furthermore, these inclusions, like PSGs, coalesce rapidly and are often reversible, with possible driving forces being changes in cytoplasmic fluidity, intrinsic physico-chemical properties and folding of the protein(s), changes in the surrounding environment such as the influences of pH seen for PSGs (Peters et al., 2013; this report), and extrinsic factors such as chaperones and/or post-translational modifications (Kaganovich, 2017).

Condensation is thought to involve phase separation phenomena often caused by reduced protein solubility. In a manner highly reminiscent of PSGs, phase separation was recently reported for the yeast translation termination factor Sup35 upon nutrient starvation in response to changes in intracellular ATP levels and pH, with this accretion helping resumption of cell growth upon exit from starvation (Franzmann et al., 2018). Why carbon starvation, but not nitrogen starvation, induces these re-arrangements remains unexplored; for PSGs, this might be caused by alterations in intracellular pH and ATP levels seen upon carbon starvation but not nitrogen starvation (Narayanaswamy et al., 2009; Munder et al., 2016). Similarly, how these condensates are able to evade the autophagic machinery, which is certainly capable of handling large protein aggregates and insoluble deposits, remains unclear, although their unique biophysical properties might be important (Holehouse and Pappu, 2018). PSGs form independently of the PAS that initiates autophagy, additionally implying a spatial separation between PSGs and sites of autophagy initiation (Figure 1—figure supplement 2C).

It is also unclear how proteasomes exit the nucleus prior to PSG formation. A recent study found that nuclear proteasomes likely dissociate into their CP and RP sub-complexes prior to export in response to nitrogen starvation, and identified a role for the exportin Crm1 in this relocation, which was blocked in the temperature-sensitive xpo1-1 mutant (Nemec et al., 2017). Proteasomes then seemed to transiently associate with cytosolic IPODs, before forming mature PSGs as separate puncta (Peters et al., 2016). We previously showed that inactive proteasomes are triaged into IPODs in an Hsp42-dependent manner prior to Cue5-mediated proteaphagy (Marshall et al., 2015), but our finding that PSGs can form even in the absence of Hsp42 implies that the pathway that forms PSGs is different.

In conclusion, we identify here an evolutionarily conserved function of PSGs in shielding proteasomes from autophagic degradation during nutrient deprivation and/or entry into quiescence that promotes cell survival when growth conditions improve. An intriguing possibility is that similarly protective aggregation takes place for a variety of other intracellular protein complexes during nutritional and environmental stress. Given the ease with which PSG (and proteasome-containing IPOD) assembly can be manipulated through growth conditions, inhibitors, and mutations, proteasome dynamics could provide an excellent paradigm to define the processes underpinning biomolecular condensate formation during stress.

Materials and Methods

Key resources table.

Reagent type
or resource
Designation Source or reference Identifiers Additional information
Strain
(Saccharomyces
cerevisiae)
Wild-type strains
(BY4741; BY4742;
SEY6210; SUB62;
W303-1B)
Other See additional
information
Provided by Daniel Finley (Harvard
Medical School), Audrey P. Gasch
(University of Wisconsin) and Mark
Hochstrasser (Yale University);
allS. cerevisiae strains are listed
in Supplementary file 1-Table S1
Strain (Arabidopsis
thaliana)
Wild type ecotype
Columbia-0 (Col-0)
Arabidopsis Biological
Resource Center (ABRC)
CS60000 N/A
Genetic reagent
(S. cerevisiae)
Yeast GFP clone collection
strains (PRE10-GFP;
RPN5-GFP; BLM10-GFP)
Thermo Fisher Scientific;
PMID 14562095
See additional
information
All S. cerevisiae strains are listed in
Supplementary file 1-Table S1
Genetic reagent
(S. cerevisiae)
Yeast gene knockout
collection strains
(multiple)
GE Healthcare;
PMID 10436161
See additional
information
All S. cerevisiae strains are listed in
Supplementary file 1-Table S1
Genetic reagent
(S. cerevisiae)
GFP-ATG8;
GFP-APE1;OM45-GFP;
PEX14-GFP;RPL25-GFP
PMID 15138258;
PMID 25042851
YTS187; KL095;
KL099; KL282;
KL285
Provided by Stefan Jentsch (Max
Planck Institut für Biochemie) and
Daniel J. Klionsky (University of
Michigan); all S. cerevisiae strains are
listed in Supplementary file 1-Table S1
Genetic reagent
(S. cerevisiae)
PHO8Δ60 PMID 7741731 TN124 Provided by Daniel J. Klionsky (University
of Michigan); all S. cerevisiae strains are
listed in Supplementary file 1-Table S1
Genetic reagent
(S. cerevisiae)
rpn11-m1; rpn11-m5 PMID 18172023;
PMID 19773362;
PMID 23936414
N/A Provided by Agnès Delahodde (Université
Paris-Sud); all S. cerevisiae strains are
listed in Supplementary file 1-Table S1
Genetic reagent
(S. cerevisiae)
PRE1-TEV-ProA;
RPN11-TEV-ProA
PMID: 12408819 SDL133;
SDL135
Provided by Daniel Finley (Harvard Medical
School); allS. cerevisiae strains are listed in
Supplementary file 1-Table S1
Genetic reagent
(A. thaliana)
atg7-2 GABI-Kat, Universität
Bielefeld;
PMID 20136727
GABI_655_B06 N/A
Genetic reagent
(A. thaliana)
pa200-2; pa200-3 ABRC; PMID 20516081 SALK_095870;
SALK_070184
N/A
Genetic reagent
(A. thaliana)
PAG1:PAG1-GFP pag1-1 PMID 26004230 SALK_114864
forpag1-1
N/A
Genetic reagent
(A. thaliana)
RPN5a:RPN5a-GFP rpn5a-2 PMID 26004230 SALK_010840
forrpn5a-2
N/A
Genetic reagent
(A. thaliana)
35S:GFP-ATG8a PMID 16040659 N/A N/A
Genetic reagent
(A. thaliana)
UBQ10:mCherry-ATG8a PMID 21984698 N/A N/A
Genes (A. thaliana and
S. cerevisiae)
See additional
information
Saccharomyces Genome
Database or the Arabidopsis
Information Resource
See additional
information
All gene accession numbers are listed in
Supplementary file 1-Table S2
Antibody Anti-FLAG (mouse
monoclonal)
Sigma-Aldrich F3165,
RRID:AB_259529
1:10,000
Antibody Anti-GFP (mixture of
mouse monoclonals)
Sigma-Aldrich 11814460001,
RRID:AB_390913
1:5000
Antibody Anti-H3 (rabbit
polyclonal)
Abcam AB1791,
RRID:AB_302613
1:3000
Antibody Anti-HA (mouse
monoclonal)
Covance MMS-101R,
RRID:AB_2314672
1:5000
Antibody Anti-mCherry (mouse
monoclonal)
Abcam AB125096,
RRID:AB_11133266
1:1000
Antibody Anti-Pre4 (rabbit polyclonal) Other N/A 1:1,000; provided by Daniel Finley
(Harvard Medical School)
Antibody Anti-Rpn5 (rabbit polyclonal) PMID 19252082 N/A 1:3000
Antibody Anti-Rpn8 (rabbit polyclonal) Other N/A 1:1,000; provided by Daniel Finley
(Harvard Medical School)
Antibody Anti-Rpt1 (rabbit polyclonal) Other N/A 1:1,000; provided by Daniel Finley
(Harvard Medical School)
Antibody Goat anti-mouse
HRP conjugate
Sercare 074–1806,
RRID:AB_2307348
1:10,000
Antibody Goat anti-rabbit
HRP conjugate
Sercare 074–1506,
RRID:AB_2721169
1:10,000
Recombinant
DNA reagent
pAG424GPD-ccdB;
pAG424GPD-ccdB-HA
Addgene; PMID 17583893 14152; 14248 Provided by Susan Lindquist
(Whitehead Institute for
Biomedical Research) via Addgene
Recombinant
DNA reagent
RNQ1-mCherry PMID 18756251 pESC::GAL1-
RNQ1-mCherry
Provided by Shay Ben-Aroya
(Bar-Ilan University)
Recombinant
DNA reagent
mCherry-BLM10 This paper pAG424::GPD1-
mCherry-BLM10
The mCherry-BLM10 coding
sequence (CDS) cloned
into pAG424GPD-ccdB
Recombinant
DNA reagent
mCherry-SPG5 This paper pAG424::GPD1-
mCherry-SPG5
The mCherry-SPG5 CDS cloned
into pAG424GPD-ccdB
Recombinant
DNA reagent
RPN11-FLAG This paper pAG424::GPD1-
RPN11-FLAG
The RPN11-FLAG CDS cloned
into pAG424GPD-ccdB
Recombinant
DNA reagent
BRE5-HA This paper pAG424::GPD1-
BRE5-HA
The BRE5 CDS cloned
into pAG424GPD-ccdB-HA
Recombinant
DNA reagent
NAT3-HA and
derivatives
This paper pAG424::GPD1-NAT3-
HA and derivatives
The NAT3 CDS (and derivatives) cloned
into pAG424GPD-ccdB-HA
Recombinant
DNA reagent
UBP3-HA and
derivatives
This paper pAG424::GPD1-UBP3-
HA and derivatives
The UBP3 CDS (and derivatives) cloned
into pAG424GPD-ccdB-HA
Sequence-based
reagent
See additional
information
Integrated DNA
Technologies
See additional
information
All oligonucleotide primer sequences are
listed in Supplementary file 1-Table S3
Recombinant
protein
6His-TEV protease Other N/A Provided by E. Sethe Burgie
(Washington University in St. Louis)
Commercial
assay or kit
LightCycler 480 SYBR
Green I Master Mix
Roche Diagnostics 04707516001 N/A
Commercial
assay or kit
Pierce BCA protein
assay kit
Thermo Fisher Scientific 23225 N/A
Commercial
assay or kit
SuperSignal West Pico
Plus Chemiluminescent
Substrate
Thermo Fisher Scientific 34578 N/A
Chemical compound 2-deoxyglucose Sigma-Aldrich D8375 N/A
Chemical compound Canavanine sulphate salt Sigma-Aldrich C9758 N/A
Chemical compound Carbonyl-cyanide-3-
chlorophenylhydrazone
Sigma-Aldrich C2759 N/A
Chemical compound Concanamycin A Santa Cruz Biotechnology SC-202111A N/A
Chemical compound LFP GenScript; PMID 16337593 See additional
information
Custom synthesis
Chemical compound MG132 Selleckchem S2619 N/A
Chemical compound N-succinyl-LLVY-7-amido-
4-methylcoumarin
Sigma-Aldrich S6510 N/A
Chemical compound p-fluorophenylalanine Sigma-Aldrich F5251 N/A
Chemical compound p-nitrophenol Sigma-Aldrich 1048 N/A
Chemical compound p-nitrophenyl phosphate
disodium salt hexahydrate
Sigma-Aldrich N4645 N/A
Software Adobe Illustrator CC;
Adobe Photoshop CC
Adobe Systems N/A N/A
Software Nikon Elements
Imaging Software
Nikon N/A N/A
Software Total Lab Quant Non-linear Dynamics N/A N/A
Other Immobilon-P PVDF
Transfer Membrane
EMD Millipore IPVH00010 N/A
Other Murashige and Skoog
basal salt micronutrient
solution
Sigma-Aldrich M0529 N/A
Other Nickel-nitrilotriacetic
acid-agarose beads
Qiagen 30230 N/A
Other Protease inhibitor
cocktail
Sigma-Aldrich P9599 N/A
Other Rabbit whole molecule
IgG antigen affinity gel
MP Biomedicals 0855961 N/A
Other Yeast nitrogen base without
amino acids and
ammonium sulphate
Sigma-Aldrich Y1251 N/A

Yeast strains and manipulations

Unless otherwise stated, all manipulations were performed according to standard yeast protocols (Dunham et al., 2015; Marshall et al., 2016). Details of all strains used in this study are given in Supplementary file 1-Table S1, and all relevant Saccharomyces Genome Database identifiers are given in Supplementary file 1-Table S2. Cells expressing PRE10-GFP, RPN5-GFP or BLM10-GFP in the BY4741 background (Brachmann et al., 1998) were obtained from the yeast GFP clone collection (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA) and cultured in synthetic complete medium lacking histidine. All deletion strains in the BY4742 background (Brachmann et al., 1998) were obtained from the yeast gene knockout collection (GE Healthcare, Chicago, IL) and cultured in YPDA medium containing 200 µg/ml Geneticin, except for the Δerg6 deletion, which was instead grown in YPDA medium containing 200 µg/ml hygromycin B (Marshall et al., 2016). The rpn11-m1 mutation is a frame-shift at position 276 that results in expression of a truncated protein replacing the last C-terminal 31 amino acids with nine non-native residues (Rinaldi et al., 2008). The rpn11-m5 mutation is an intragenic suppressor of rpn11-m1 that restored the end of the open-reading frame downstream of residue 282, but still maintained seven amino acid changes compared to the wild type sequence (Rinaldi et al., 2008; Saunier et al., 2013). Crosses between haploid strains of opposite mating types were selected for on appropriate synthetic dropout media plus antibiotics, with subsequent sporulation and asci dissection performed as previously described (Marshall et al., 2016). The identities of the resulting haploid strains were confirmed by PCR genotyping and confocal fluorescence microscopy (see below). All oligonucleotide primers used in this study are listed in Supplementary file 1-Table S3.

For time-course experiments, 15 ml liquid cultures in YPGA medium (YPDA medium but containing 2% glycerol instead of 2% glucose [Adachi et al., 2017]) were grown overnight at 30°C with vigorous shaking, diluted to an OD600 of 0.1 in 15 ml, then grown for an additional 2 to 3 hr until an OD600 of approximately 0.5 was reached. Cell aliquots corresponding to 1.5 OD600 units were taken at the indicated times, pelleted by centrifugation at 5000 x g for 1 min, washed once in sterile distilled H2O, pelleted again, and immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen. For nitrogen starvation, cultures were grown and diluted in YPGA medium as above and, once an OD600 of approximately 0.5 was reached, cells were pelleted by centrifugation at 1000 x g for 2 min, washed twice in sterile distilled H2O, re-suspended in synthetic dropout medium lacking nitrogen (0.17% yeast nitrogen base without amino acids and ammonium sulphate (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO), 2% glycerol), then incubated at 30°C as above. For carbon starvation, cultures were grown as above, followed by re-suspension in YPGA medium lacking glycerol (Adachi et al., 2017). Where indicated, cells were also pre-treated for 6 hr with 5 mM 2-deoxyglucose and 2 mM NaN3 prior to the starvation period, or the medium was adjusted to pH 3.0 (with Na2HPO4/citric acid) or pH 9.0 (with NaOH) instead of the usual pH 6.0, in which case cells were simultaneously treated with 100 µM CCCP (Orij et al., 2009).

For yeast growth assays, cells were grown and treated as above, except a culture volume of 50 ml was used (Figure 8—figure supplement 1A). Following a 24 hr starvation period, cultures were diluted to an OD600 of 0.2 in 50 ml YPGA medium, and growth resumption was monitored in the presence or absence of 5 μM canavanine or 25 mM p-fluorophenylalanine (Sigma-Aldrich) by measurement of OD600 values, or by growth of cells on solid synthetic complete medium. Susceptibility to canavanine or p-fluorophenylalanine was determined by normalizing the OD600 value of each strain in the presence of the analog to its growth in the absence of the analog. For growth on solid medium, cells were re-suspended in liquid synthetic complete medium to an OD600 of 1.0, subjected to a series of 5-fold dilutions, and 5 μl of each dilution was spotted onto media containing or lacking 5 μM canavanine or 25 mM p-fluorophenylalanine. Cells were then grown for 36 hr at 30°C.

For treatment with MG132 ((N-benzyloxycarbonyl)-leucinyl-leucinyl-leucinal; Selleckchem, Houston, TX; Kisselev and Goldberg, 2001), cells containing the Δerg6 deletion were grown in YPGA medium as above and treated with 80 µM MG132 for the indicated times. For the experiment monitoring pexophagy, cells expressing the PEX14-GFP reporter were grown overnight in YPGA medium, then diluted to an OD600 of 0.1 in 15 ml SGD medium (0.67% yeast nitrogen base, 3% glycerol, 0.1% glucose) and grown for an additional 12 hr. 1.5 ml of 10X YP medium (10% yeast extract, 20% bacto-peptone) was then added, resulting in final concentrations of 1% yeast extract and 2% bacto-peptone, and the cells were grown for an additional 4 hr. Cultures were then diluted into 15 ml YTO medium (0.67% yeast nitrogen base, 0.1% Tween-20, 0.1% oleic acid) to an OD600 of 0.2 and grown overnight to induce peroxisome proliferation (Hutchins et al., 1999). Cells were then subjected to nitrogen or carbon starvation as described above. All other types of selective autophagy were monitored in YPGA medium only.

Plasmid constructions and genetic complementation

Genetic complementation with the BRE5, NAT3, RPN11, SPG5, and UBP3 genes used coding sequences amplified from BY4741 cDNA generated at appropriate growth stages, as described below (see Quantitative real-time PCR). The oligonucleotides used for amplification of RPN11 included sequence encoding a C-terminal FLAG tag. Resulting PCR products were recombined first into pDONR221 via the Gateway BP clonase II reaction (Thermo Fisher Scientific), and then into the pAG424GPD-ccdB or pAG424GPD-ccdB-HA vectors (provided by Susan Lindquist (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)) via the Gateway LR clonase II reaction (Thermo Fisher Scientific). Previously described point mutations that abolish Nat3 catalytic activity (C97A; Polevoda et al., 2003), Ubp3 catalytic activity (C469A; Cohen et al., 2003) or Ubp3 binding to its co-factor Bre5 (L208A F209A V210A N211A; Li et al., 2005) were introduced by the QuikChange method (Agilent Genomics, Santa Clara, CA). The construct encoding mCherry-SPG5 was generated by overlapping fusion PCR, using the mCherry coding region from the pESC::GAL1-RNQ1-mCherry plasmid as the template. The mCherry-BLM10 construct was generated by sequential Gibson assembly of 10 overlapping PCR fragments (Gibson et al., 2009). All resulting plasmids were transformed into the indicated yeast strains using the lithium acetate method and subsequently grown in synthetic complete medium lacking tryptophan, in addition to other selective amino acids.

Immunological techniques

Total protein extracts from yeast were obtained by re-suspending harvested cells in 500 µl of yeast extraction buffer (0.2 N NaOH, 1% 2-mercaptoethanol), followed by precipitation of proteins with 50 µl of 50% trichloroacetic acid. Proteins collected by centrifugation at 16,000 x g for 5 min at 4°C were washed once with 1 ml of ice-cold acetone, re-suspended into 150 µl SDS-PAGE sample buffer (80 mM Tris-HCl (pH 6.8), 10% glycerol, 4% SDS, 4% 2-mercaptoethanol, 0.002% bromophenol blue), and heated at 95°C for 5 min. Total protein extracts from Arabidopsis were obtained by grinding frozen seedling tissue in 3 volumes of plant extraction buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 150 mM NaCl, 2 mM dithiothreitol (DTT), 1 mM phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride (PMSF), 50 μM MG132, 1X protease inhibitor cocktail (Sigma-Aldrich)), followed by removal of insoluble debris by centrifugation. The supernatant was then made 1X with SDS-PAGE sample buffer (from a 5X concentrate) and also heated to 95°C for 5 min. SDS-PAGE gels were then prepared and stained for protein with silver nitrate as previously described (Marshall et al., 2017). Alternatively, gels were subjected to immunoblot analysis, where proteins were electrophoretically transferred onto Immobilon-P membrane (EMD Millipore, Burlington, MA) at 80 mA for 16 hr, blocked with a 10% non-fat dry milk solution in PBS (137 mM NaCl, 2.7 mM KCl, 10 mM Na2HPO4, 1.8 mM KH2PO4), then probed with specific antibodies diluted in PBS containing 1% milk. See the Key Resources Table for full details of specific primary and secondary antibodies used. The anti-Rpn5 antibodies were raised against the Arabidopsis protein (Book et al., 2009), which has 30% identity and 37% similarity to the yeast version. All blots were developed using the SuperSignal West Pico Plus Chemiluminescent Substrate (Thermo Fisher Scientific). Densitometric quantification of blots was performed using TotalLab Quant software (Non-linear Dynamics; Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK), with at least three different exposures used to ensure the exposure level was within the linear range of the film.

Pho8Δ60 activity assays

The Pho8Δ60 activity assays were performed essentially as previously described (Noda and Klionsky, 2008), with minor modifications. Strain TN124 was grown in a 250 ml culture, subjected to nitrogen and/or carbon starvation or growth at different pH, and aliquots corresponding to 5.0 OD600 units were sampled at the indicated times. Cell pellets were re-suspended in 500 µl lysis buffer (20 mM PIPES-KOH (pH 8.5), 50 mM KCl, 100 mM potassium acetate, 10 mM MgSO4, 10 μM ZnSO4, 0.5% Triton X‐100, supplemented with 1 mM PMSF immediately before use), and lysed by vigorous vortexing in the presence of ~200 μl acid-washed glass beads for a total of 5 min at 4°C (10 rounds of vortexing for 30 s, followed by resting on ice for 30 s). Remaining non-lysed cells and insoluble debris were pelleted by centrifugation at 16,000 x g for 5 min at 4°C, and the supernatant was collected for subsequent analysis. Equal amounts of total protein (20 μg, as determined by Pierce BCA protein assay kit) were then assayed for alkaline phosphatase activity. Protein samples in a volume of 100 μl were mixed with 400 µl of pre-warmed assay buffer (250 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.5), 10 mM MgSO4, 10 µM ZnSO4, 1% Triton X-100) containing 1.5 mM p-nitrophenyl phosphate (Sigma-Aldrich) and incubated for 10 min at 37°C. Reactions were stopped by addition of 500 µl of 1 M glycine-KOH (pH 11.0), and the absorbance of p-nitrophenol at 400 nm was measured using a SmartSpec 3000 UV/Vis spectrophotometer (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA). Following subtraction of the appropriate enzyme and substrate only controls, specific alkaline phosphatase activity was calculated from a p-nitrophenol standard curve. Three technical replicates were performed for each sample, and the data from three independent biological replicates was averaged and normalized to the activity observed at the 0 hr time point.

Confocal fluorescence microscopy

Yeast cells were visualized by confocal laser scanning microscopy using a Nikon A1 microscope with a 100X oil objective (numerical aperture 1.46). Excitation was at 488 or 543 nm, and emission was collected from 500 to 530 nm or 565 to 615 nm, for GFP and mCherry, respectively. To prevent cell movement, all cover slips were first washed with 1 M NaOH, rinsed with sterile distilled H2O, and coated with a 2 mg/ml solution of concanavalin A (in H2O) for 10 min. The slips were then air-dried, rinsed with sterile distilled H2O, left to dry again, and stored at room temperature for up to 2 months before use. To avoid auto-fluorescence from the YPGA medium, cells were first pelleted by centrifugation at 1000 x g for 1 min, and then re-suspended in synthetic complete medium lacking appropriate nutrients prior to imaging. For imaging of Arabidopsis roots, seedlings of the indicated genotypes were grown in 5 ml liquid GM medium (3.2 g/l Gamborg’s B5 basal salts with minimal organics, 1% (w/v) sucrose, 0.05% (w/v) MES (pH 5.7)) at 21°C to 23°C under continuous white light for 5 days with gentle shaking (90 rpm), before being transferred to fresh medium containing or lacking 1 μM concanamycin A (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Dallas, TX) and being subjected to either nitrogen and/or fixed-carbon starvation as previously described (Thompson et al., 2005; Marshall et al., 2015). Root cells within the lower elongation zone were then visualized as above, using 20X or 40X oil objectives (numerical apertures 0.75 and 1.30, respectively). All confocal images were scanned in single-track mode, except for the co-localisation studies, when GFP and mCherry signals were instead detected simultaneously in multi-track mode. Images were processed using Adobe Photoshop CC, before conversion to TIFF files for use in the Figures. Within each Figure, all images were captured using identical microscope settings.

Quantitative real-time PCR

Yeast cell cultures (15 ml) grown in YPGA medium were subjected to nitrogen and/or carbon starvation as described above, harvested, and 2 × 107 cells were digested for 1 hr at 30°C with 100 U of lyticase in 100 µl Y1 buffer (1 M sorbitol, 100 mM EDTA, 0.1% (v/v) β-mercaptoethanol (pH 7.4)). Quantitative real-time PCR was performed exactly as previously described (Marshall et al., 2016) using a LightCycler 480 in combination with SYBR Green I master mix (Roche Diagnostics; Basel, Switzerland) and transcript-specific primers (see Supplementary file 1-Table S3). Relative transcript abundance was determined by the comparative threshold cycle method (Pfaffl, 2001), using the ALG9 and TFC1 reference genes as internal controls (Teste et al., 2009; Llanos et al., 2015). All data were normalized to non-starved wild-type cells.

Proteasome affinity purifications

26S holo-proteasomes or the CP or RP sub-complexes were affinity purified essentially as previously described (Leggett et al., 2005), with minor modifications. Yeast strains in which the Pre1 or Rpn11 subunits had been genetically replaced by variants tagged with Protein A were grown overnight at 30°C in 50 ml YPGA medium, diluted in 500 ml YPGA medium to an OD600 of 0.1, grown for a further 2 to 3 hr until an OD600 of approximately 0.5 was reached, then subjected to nitrogen or carbon starvation for the indicated times. Cells were then pelleted by centrifugation at 4000 x g for 20 min at 4°C, washed once in sterile distilled H2O, pelleted again, and immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen until use. Frozen cell pellets were ground to a fine powder at liquid nitrogen temperatures for 15 min each, rehydrated with 1 vol of proteasome lysis buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 5 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EDTA, 10% (v/v) glycerol, with 2 mM ATP, 2 mM PMSF, 10 mM 2-chloroiodoacetamide, 10 mM N-ethylmaleimide, 10 mM sodium metabisulphite, 1 mM benzamidine, 10 µg/ml pepstatin A, 1 µg/ml antipain and 1X protease inhibitor cocktail (Sigma-Aldrich) added immediately before use), and proteins were extracted on ice for 20 min. Extracts were filtered through two layers of Miracloth (Calbiochem, San Diego, CA), and clarified at 30,000 x g for 20 min at 4°C. Equal volumes of supernatant were then incubated with gentle rotation for 2 hr at 4°C with 100 µl of rabbit whole molecule IgG antigen affinity gel (MP Biomedicals, Santa Ana, CA) pre-equilibrated in lysis buffer.

Samples were then applied to a 12 ml Polyprep chromatography column (Bio-Rad), and the collected beads were washed three times with 2 ml of proteasome wash buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 50 mM NaCl, 5 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EDTA, 2 mM ATP, 10% (v/v) glycerol), and twice with 1 ml of tobacco etch virus (TEV) protease buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 5 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EDTA, 2 mM ATP, 1 mM DTT, 10% (v/v) glycerol). Bound proteins were eluted by incubating the beads for 1 hr at 30°C with 300 µl of TEV protease buffer containing 20 ng/µl recombinant 6His-TEV, then collecting the flow through from the column. The remaining 6His-TEV was removed by addition of 50 µl nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA)-agarose beads (Qiagen, Germantown, MD), which were pre-equilibrated in TEV protease buffer containing 40 mM imidazole (resulting in a final concentration of 10 mM), and incubating for 1 hr at 4°C with gentle rotation. The beads were pelleted by centrifugation at 5000 x g for 1 min at 4°C, and the supernatant containing purified 26S proteasomes was removed and analyzed by SDS-PAGE followed by silver staining or immunoblotting, as described above.

Proteasome activity assays

To assay 26S proteasome activity, wild-type or rpn5ΔC cells were grown in a 50 ml culture, subjected to nitrogen and/or carbon starvation treatment as described above, and cell aliquots corresponding to 5.0 OD600 units were sampled at the indicated times. Frozen cell pellets were ground to a fine powder at liquid nitrogen temperatures for 5 min each, rehydrated with 1 vol of activity assay lysis buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), 5 mM MgCl2, 1 mM EDTA, 10% (v/v) glycerol), filtered through two layers of Miracloth (Calbiochem) and clarified at 30,000 × g for 20 min at 4°C. Supernatants were then made 10% (w/v) in PEG 8000 and incubated for 30 min at 4°C with moderate stirring. The resulting precipitate was collected by centrifugation at 12,000 × g for 15 min at 4°C and re-suspended in 500 μl of lysis buffer. The total protein concentration of each sample was determined by Pierce BCA protein assay kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific), and equal amounts of protein (10 μg) from each sample were assayed for proteasome activity in the presence or absence of 80 μM MG132. Protein samples in a volume of 20 μl were incubated for 20 min at 37°C in 1 ml of assay buffer (50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.0), 2 mM MgCl2, with 1 mM ATP and 2 mM 2-mercaptoethanol added immediately before use) containing 100 μM of the fluorogenic substrates N-succinyl-leucyl-leucyl-valyl-tyrosyl-7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (Suc-LLVY-amc; Sigma-Aldrich) or (7-methoxycoumarin-4-yl)-acetyl-alanyl-lysyl-valyl-tyrosyl-prolyl-tyrosyl-prolyl-methionyl-glutamyl-(2,4-dinitrophenyl-(2,3-diaminopropionic acid))-amide (Mca-AKVYPYPME-Dpa(Dnp)-amide, also known as LFP; GenScript, Piscataway, NJ; Smith et al., 2005). Reactions were quenched by the addition of 1 ml of 80 mM sodium acetate (pH 4.3), and the resulting fluorescence was monitored using a TKO 100 fluorometer (Hoefer Scientific Instruments, Holliston, MA), with an excitation wavelength of 365 nm and an emission wavelength of 460 nm.

Arabidopsis materials and growth conditions

Unless otherwise noted, A. thaliana seeds (ecotype Columbia-0) were vapor-phase sterilized, stratified at 4°C for 3 to 4 days, and germinated on solid GM medium (3.2 g/l Gamborg’s B5 basal salts with minimal organics, 1% (w/v) sucrose, 0.05% (w/v) MES (pH 5.7), 0.7% (w/v) agar) at 21°C to 23°C under a long-day photoperiod (16 hr light (75 to 100 μmol/m2/sec)/8 hr darkness). When required, after 2 to 3 weeks the seedlings were transferred onto soil (mixed in a 1:1 ratio with organic Coco Coir planting mixture, then supplemented before use with 2 g/l Peters 20-20-20 fertilizer, 80 mg/l Ca(NO3)2 and 80 mg/l MgSO4) and again grown at 21°C to 23°C under a long-day photoperiod until completion of their lifecycle. The pa200-2, pa200-3 and atg7-2 T-DNA insertion mutants (SALK_095870, SALK_070184 and GABI_655_B06, respectively), and the 35S:GFP-ATG8a, PAG1:PAG1-GFP pag1-1 and RPN5a:RPN5a-GFP rpn5a-2 reporter lines, were as previously described (Thompson et al., 2005; Chung et al., 2010; Book et al., 2010; Marshall et al., 2015). The T-DNA insertion mutants were confirmed by genomic PCR using 5ʹ and 3ʹ gene-specific primers (LP and RP, respectively) in conjunction with appropriate T-DNA left border-specific primers (BP). All oligonucleotide primers used in this study are listed in Supplementary file 1-Table S3. The PAG1-GFP and RPN5a-GFP reporters were introgressed into the pa200-2 and pa200-3 mutants by standard crossing.

For chemical or starvation treatments, seedlings were grown in liquid GM medium at 21°C to 23°C under continuous light with gentle shaking (90 rpm), with the medium replenished every 3 days where required. To stabilize autophagic bodies in the vacuole, fresh medium was supplemented with 1 μM ConA for 16 hr. For nitrogen starvation, seedlings were transferred to MS medium lacking nitrogen (MS basal salt micronutrient solution (Sigma-Aldrich) supplemented with 3 mM CaCl2, 1.5 mM MgSO4, 1.5 mM KH2PO4, 5 mM KCl, 1% (w/v) sucrose, 0.05% (w/v) MES (pH 5.7)) for the indicated times. For fixed-carbon starvation, the seedlings were transferred to liquid GM medium lacking sucrose, and incubated in the dark (to prevent carbon fixation by photosynthesis), while simultaneous nitrogen and fixed carbon starvation utilised MS medium lacking nitrogen and sucrose together with incubation in the dark. For all starvation treatments, control and treated seedlings were washed three times in appropriate medium prior to commencing starvation and, following treatment, all tissue was harvested, immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80°C until use.

Statistical analyses

All datasets were statistically analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by Tukey’s post-hoc tests to identify significantly different data points. At least three biological replicates were performed in all cases, unless otherwise indicated in the Figure Legend.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Shay Ben-Aroya, Agnès Delahodde, Daniel Finley, Audrey P Gasch, Daniel J Klionsky and Heather L True for sharing yeast strains, plasmids and antibodies. Dianne M Duncan assisted with the confocal microscopy, E Sethe Burgie provided 6His-TEV protease, and Robert C Augustine, Fionn McLoughlin and Joseph M Walker provided advice and technical assistance. We also thank the anonymous editors for their helpful suggestions. This work was funded by grants from the US Department of Energy Office of Science; Office of Basic Energy Science; Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences Division (DE-FG02-88ER13968), the National Science Foundation; Plant Genome Research Program (IOS-1329956), and the National Institutes of Health; National Institute of General Medical Science (R01-GM124452-01A1) to RDV.

Funding Statement

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Contributor Information

Richard D Vierstra, Email: rdvierstra@wustl.edu.

Raymond J Deshaies, California Institute of Technology, United States.

Funding Information

This paper was supported by the following grants:

  • U.S. Department of Energy DE-FG02-88ER13968 to Richard D Vierstra.

  • National Science Foundation IOS-1329956 to Richard D Vierstra.

  • National Institutes of Health R01-GM124452-01A1 to Richard D Vierstra.

Additional information

Competing interests

No competing interests declared.

Author contributions

Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Methodology, Writing—original draft, Project administration, Writing—review and editing.

Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Supervision, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Writing—review and editing.

Additional files

Supplementary file 1. Table S1: Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains used in this study.

Table S2: Accession numbers of genes used in this study. Table S3: Oligonucleotide primers used in this study.

elife-34532-supp1.docx (83.6KB, docx)
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.034
Transparent reporting form
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.035

References

  1. Adachi A, Koizumi M, Ohsumi Y. Autophagy induction under carbon starvation conditions is negatively regulated by carbon catabolite repression. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2017;292:19905–19918. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M117.817510. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bajorek M, Finley D, Glickman MH. Proteasome disassembly and downregulation is correlated with viability during stationary phase. Current Biology. 2003;13:1140–1144. doi: 10.1016/S0960-9822(03)00417-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Besche HC, Sha Z, Kukushkin NV, Peth A, Hock EM, Kim W, Gygi S, Gutierrez JA, Liao H, Dick L, Goldberg AL. Autoubiquitination of the 26S proteasome on Rpn13 regulates breakdown of ubiquitin conjugates. The EMBO Journal. 2014;33:1159–1176. doi: 10.1002/embj.201386906. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bhattacharyya S, Yu H, Mim C, Matouschek A. Regulated protein turnover: snapshots of the proteasome in action. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology. 2014;15:122–133. doi: 10.1038/nrm3741. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Book AJ, Gladman NP, Lee SS, Scalf M, Smith LM, Vierstra RD. Affinity purification of the Arabidopsis 26S proteasome reveals a diverse array of plant proteolytic complexes. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2010;285:25554–25569. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M110.136622. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Book AJ, Smalle J, Lee KH, Yang P, Walker JM, Casper S, Holmes JH, Russo LA, Buzzinotti ZW, Jenik PD, Vierstra RD. The RPN5 subunit of the 26S proteasome is essential for gametogenesis, sporophyte development, and complex assembly in Arabidopsis. The Plant Cell. 2009;21:460–478. doi: 10.1105/tpc.108.064444. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Brachmann CB, Davies A, Cost GJ, Caputo E, Li J, Hieter P, Boeke JD. Designer deletion strains derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae S288C: a useful set of strains and plasmids for PCR-mediated gene disruption and other applications. Yeast. 1998;14:115–132. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0061(19980130)14:2&#x0003c;115::AID-YEA204&#x0003e;3.0.CO;2-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Chowdhury M, Enenkel C. Intracellular dynamics of the ubiquitin-proteasome system. F1000 Research. 2015;4:367. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.6835.2. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Chung T, Phillips AR, Vierstra RD. ATG8 lipidation and ATG8-mediated autophagy in Arabidopsis require ATG12 expressed from the differentially controlled ATG12a and ATG12b loci. The Plant Journal. 2010;62:483–493. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-313X.2010.04166.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Cohen M, Stutz F, Belgareh N, Haguenauer-Tsapis R, Dargemont C. Ubp3 requires a cofactor, Bre5, to specifically de-ubiquitinate the COPII protein, Sec23. Nature Cell Biology. 2003;5:661–667. doi: 10.1038/ncb1003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Cohen-Kaplan V, Livneh I, Avni N, Fabre B, Ziv T, Kwon YT, Ciechanover A. p62- and ubiquitin-dependent stress-induced autophagy of the mammalian 26S proteasome. PNAS. 2016;113:7490–7499. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1615455113. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Collins GA, Goldberg AL. The logic of the 26S proteasome. Cell. 2017;169:792–806. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.04.023. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Dange T, Smith D, Noy T, Rommel PC, Jurzitza L, Cordero RJ, Legendre A, Finley D, Goldberg AL, Schmidt M. Blm10 protein promotes proteasomal substrate turnover by an active gating mechanism. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2011;286:42830–42839. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M111.300178. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. De La Mota-Peynado A, Lee SY, Pierce BM, Wani P, Singh CR, Roelofs J. The proteasome-associated protein Ecm29 inhibits proteasomal ATPase activity and in vivo protein degradation by the proteasome. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2013;288:29467–29481. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M113.491662. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Dikic I. Proteasomal and autophagic degradation systems. Annual Review of Biochemistry. 2017;86:193–224. doi: 10.1146/annurev-biochem-061516-044908. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Dunham MJ, Gartenberg MR, Brown GW. Methods in Yeast Genetics and Genomics. Woodbury, New York, USA: Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory; 2015. pp. 1–256. [Google Scholar]
  17. Enenkel C, Lehmann A, Kloetzel PM. Subcellular distribution of proteasomes implicates a major location of protein degradation in the nuclear envelope-ER network in yeast. The EMBO Journal. 1998;17:6144–6154. doi: 10.1093/emboj/17.21.6144. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Fehlker M, Wendler P, Lehmann A, Enenkel C. Blm3 is part of nascent proteasomes and is involved in a late stage of nuclear proteasome assembly. EMBO Reports. 2003;4:959–963. doi: 10.1038/sj.embor.embor938. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Finley D, Ulrich HD, Sommer T, Kaiser P. The ubiquitin-proteasome system of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics. 2012;192:319–360. doi: 10.1534/genetics.112.140467. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Franzmann TM, Jahnel M, Pozniakovsky A, Mahamid J, Holehouse AS, Nüske E, Richter D, Baumeister W, Grill SW, Pappu RV, Hyman AA, Alberti S. Phase separation of a yeast prion protein promotes cellular fitness. Science. 2018;359:eaao5654. doi: 10.1126/science.aao5654. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Galluzzi L, Baehrecke EH, Ballabio A, Boya P, Bravo-San Pedro JM, Cecconi F, Choi AM, Chu CT, Codogno P, Colombo MI, Cuervo AM, Debnath J, Deretic V, Dikic I, Eskelinen EL, Fimia GM, Fulda S, Gewirtz DA, Green DR, Hansen M, Harper JW, Jäättelä M, Johansen T, Juhasz G, Kimmelman AC, Kraft C, Ktistakis NT, Kumar S, Levine B, Lopez-Otin C, Madeo F, Martens S, Martinez J, Melendez A, Mizushima N, Münz C, Murphy LO, Penninger JM, Piacentini M, Reggiori F, Rubinsztein DC, Ryan KM, Santambrogio L, Scorrano L, Simon AK, Simon HU, Simonsen A, Tavernarakis N, Tooze SA, Yoshimori T, Yuan J, Yue Z, Zhong Q, Kroemer G. Molecular definitions of autophagy and related processes. The EMBO Journal. 2017;36:1811–1836. doi: 10.15252/embj.201796697. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Gao C, Zhuang X, Cui Y, Fu X, He Y, Zhao Q, Zeng Y, Shen J, Luo M, Jiang L. Dual roles of an Arabidopsis ESCRT component FREE1 in regulating vacuolar protein transport and autophagic degradation. PNAS. 2015;112:1886–1891. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1421271112. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Gasch AP, Spellman PT, Kao CM, Carmel-Harel O, Eisen MB, Storz G, Botstein D, Brown PO. Genomic expression programs in the response of yeast cells to environmental changes. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 2000;11:4241–4257. doi: 10.1091/mbc.11.12.4241. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Gibson DG, Young L, Chuang RY, Venter JC, Hutchison CA, Smith HO. Enzymatic assembly of DNA molecules up to several hundred kilobases. Nature Methods. 2009;6:343–345. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.1318. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Gu ZC, Wu E, Sailer C, Jando J, Styles E, Eisenkolb I, Kuschel M, Bitschar K, Wang X, Huang L, Vissa A, Yip CM, Yedidi RS, Friesen H, Enenkel C. Ubiquitin orchestrates proteasome dynamics between proliferation and quiescence in yeast. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 2017;28:2479–2491. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E17-03-0162. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Hanna J, Waterman D, Boselli M, Finley D. Spg5 protein regulates the proteasome in quiescence. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2012;287:34400–34409. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M112.390294. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Hipp MS, Park SH, Hartl FU. Proteostasis impairment in protein-misfolding and -aggregation diseases. Trends in Cell Biology. 2014;24:506–514. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2014.05.003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Hirano H, Kimura Y, Kimura A. Biological significance of co- and post-translational modifications of the yeast 26S proteasome. Journal of Proteomics. 2016;134:37–46. doi: 10.1016/j.jprot.2015.11.016. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Hjerpe R, Bett JS, Keuss MJ, Solovyova A, McWilliams TG, Johnson C, Sahu I, Varghese J, Wood N, Wightman M, Osborne G, Bates GP, Glickman MH, Trost M, Knebel A, Marchesi F, Kurz T. UBQLN2 mediates autophagy-independent protein aggregate clearance by the proteasome. Cell. 2016;166:935–949. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.07.001. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Holehouse AS, Pappu RV. Functional implications of intracellular phase transitions. Biochemistry. 2018 doi: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b01136. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Honigberg SM. Similar environments but diverse fates: responses of budding yeast to nutrient deprivation. Microbial Cell. 2016;3:302–328. doi: 10.15698/mic2016.08.516. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Hutchins MU, Veenhuis M, Klionsky DJ. Peroxisome degradation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is dependent on machinery of macroautophagy and the Cvt pathway. Journal of Cell Science. 1999;112:4079–4087. doi: 10.1242/jcs.112.22.4079. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Kaganovich D, Kopito R, Frydman J. Misfolded proteins partition between two distinct quality control compartments. Nature. 2008;454:1088–1095. doi: 10.1038/nature07195. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Kaganovich D. There is an inclusion for that: material properties of protein granules provide a platform for building diverse cellular functions. Trends in Biochemical Sciences. 2017;42:765–776. doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2017.08.002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Kanki T, Klionsky DJ. Mitophagy in yeast occurs through a selective mechanism. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2008;283:32386–32393. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M802403200. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Kim DY, Scalf M, Smith LM, Vierstra RD. Advanced proteomic analyses yield a deep catalog of ubiquitylation targets in Arabidopsis. The Plant Cell. 2013;25:1523–1540. doi: 10.1105/tpc.112.108613. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Kimura Y, Saeki Y, Yokosawa H, Polevoda B, Sherman F, Hirano H. N-terminal modifications of the 19S regulatory particle subunits of the yeast proteasome. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. 2003;409:341–348. doi: 10.1016/S0003-9861(02)00639-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Kimura Y, Takaoka M, Tanaka S, Sassa H, Tanaka K, Polevoda B, Sherman F, Hirano H. Nα-acetylation and proteolytic activity of the yeast 20 S proteasome. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2000;275:4635–4639. doi: 10.1074/jbc.275.7.4635. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Kisselev AF, Goldberg AL. Proteasome inhibitors: from research tools to drug candidates. Chemistry & Biology. 2001;8:739–758. doi: 10.1016/S1074-5521(01)00056-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Kraft C, Deplazes A, Sohrmann M, Peter M. Mature ribosomes are selectively degraded upon starvation by an autophagy pathway requiring the Ubp3p/Bre5p ubiquitin protease. Nature Cell Biology. 2008;10:602–610. doi: 10.1038/ncb1723. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Lander GC, Estrin E, Matyskiela ME, Bashore C, Nogales E, Martin A. Complete subunit architecture of the proteasome regulatory particle. Nature. 2012;482:186–191. doi: 10.1038/nature10774. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Laporte D, Lebaudy A, Sahin A, Pinson B, Ceschin J, Daignan-Fornier B, Sagot I. Metabolic status rather than cell cycle signals control quiescence entry and exit. The Journal of Cell Biology. 2011;192:949–957. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201009028. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Laporte D, Salin B, Daignan-Fornier B, Sagot I. Reversible cytoplasmic localization of the proteasome in quiescent yeast cells. The Journal of Cell Biology. 2008;181:737–745. doi: 10.1083/jcb.200711154. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  44. Lee HY, Cheng KY, Chao JC, Leu JY. Differentiated cytoplasmic granule formation in quiescent and non-quiescent cells upon chronological aging. Microbial Cell. 2016;3:109–119. doi: 10.15698/mic2016.03.484. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  45. Leggett DS, Glickman MH, Finley D. Purification of proteasomes, proteasome subcomplexes, and proteasome-associated proteins from budding yeast. Methods in Molecular Biology. 2005;301:57–70. doi: 10.1385/1-59259-895-1:057. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  46. Leggett DS, Hanna J, Borodovsky A, Crosas B, Schmidt M, Baker RT, Walz T, Ploegh H, Finley D. Multiple associated proteins regulate proteasome structure and function. Molecular Cell. 2002;10:495–507. doi: 10.1016/S1097-2765(02)00638-X. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  47. Lehmann A, Niewienda A, Jechow K, Janek K, Enenkel C. Ecm29 fulfils quality control functions in proteasome assembly. Molecular Cell. 2010;38:879–888. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2010.06.016. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  48. Li K, Zhao K, Ossareh-Nazari B, Da G, Dargemont C, Marmorstein R. Structural basis for interaction between the Ubp3 deubiquitinating enzyme and its Bre5 cofactor. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2005;280:29176–29185. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M502975200. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  49. Llanos A, François JM, Parrou JL. Tracking the best reference genes for RT-qPCR data normalization in filamentous fungi. BMC Genomics. 2015;16:71. doi: 10.1186/s12864-015-1224-y. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  50. Mao P, Smerdon MJ. Yeast deubiquitinase Ubp3 interacts with the 26S proteasome to facilitate Rad4 degradation. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2010;285:37542–37550. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M110.170175. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  51. Marguerat S, Schmidt A, Codlin S, Chen W, Aebersold R, Bähler J. Quantitative analysis of fission yeast transcriptomes and proteomes in proliferating and quiescent cells. Cell. 2012;151:671–683. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.09.019. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  52. Marshall RS, Gemperline DC, Vierstra RD. Purification of 26S proteasomes and their subcomplexes from plants. Methods in Molecular Biology. 2017;1511:301–344. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-6533-5_24. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  53. Marshall RS, Li F, Gemperline DC, Book AJ, Vierstra RD. Autophagic degradation of the 26S proteasome is mediated by the dual ATG8/ubiquitin receptor RPN10 in Arabidopsis. Molecular Cell. 2015;58:1053–1066. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2015.04.023. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  54. Marshall RS, McLoughlin F, Vierstra RD. Autophagic turnover of inactive 26S proteasomes in yeast is directed by the ubiquitin receptor Cue5 and the Hsp42 chaperone. Cell Reports. 2016;16:1717–1732. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.07.015. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  55. Marshall RS, Vierstra RD. Eat or be eaten: the autophagic plight of inactive 26S proteasomes. Autophagy. 2015;11:1927–1928. doi: 10.1080/15548627.2015.1078961. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  56. Marshall RS, Vierstra RD. Autophagy: the master of bulk and selective recycling. Annual Review of Plant Biology. 2018 doi: 10.1146/annurev-arplant-042817-040606. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  57. Martinez MJ, Roy S, Archuletta AB, Wentzell PD, Anna-Arriola SS, Rodriguez AL, Aragon AD, Quiñones GA, Allen C, Werner-Washburne M. Genomic analysis of stationary-phase and exit in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: gene expression and identification of novel essential genes. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 2004;15:5295–5305. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E03-11-0856. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  58. Mateju D, Franzmann TM, Patel A, Kopach A, Boczek EE, Maharana S, Lee HO, Carra S, Hyman AA, Alberti S. An aberrant phase transition of stress granules triggered by misfolded protein and prevented by chaperone function. The EMBO Journal. 2017;36:1669–1687. doi: 10.15252/embj.201695957. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  59. Menzies FM, Fleming A, Rubinsztein DC. Compromised autophagy and neurodegenerative diseases. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2015;16:345–357. doi: 10.1038/nrn3961. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  60. Munder MC, Midtvedt D, Franzmann T, Nüske E, Otto O, Herbig M, Ulbricht E, Müller P, Taubenberger A, Maharana S, Malinovska L, Richter D, Guck J, Zaburdaev V, Alberti S. A pH-driven transition of the cytoplasm from a fluid- to a solid-like state promotes entry into dormancy. eLife. 2016;5:e09347. doi: 10.7554/eLife.09347. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  61. Müller M, Kötter P, Behrendt C, Walter E, Scheckhuber CQ, Entian KD, Reichert AS. Synthetic quantitative array technology identifies the Ubp3-Bre5 deubiquitinase complex as a negative regulator of mitophagy. Cell Reports. 2015;10:1215–1225. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2015.01.044. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  62. Narayanaswamy R, Levy M, Tsechansky M, Stovall GM, O'Connell JD, Mirrielees J, Ellington AD, Marcotte EM. Widespread reorganization of metabolic enzymes into reversible assemblies upon nutrient starvation. PNAS. 2009;106:10147–10152. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0812771106. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  63. Nemec AA, Howell LA, Peterson AK, Murray MA, Tomko RJ. Autophagic clearance of proteasomes in yeast requires the conserved sorting nexin Snx4. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2017;292:21466–21480. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M117.817999. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  64. Noda T, Klionsky DJ. The quantitative Pho8Δ60 assay of nonspecific autophagy. Methods in Enzymology. 2008;451:33–42. doi: 10.1016/S0076-6879(08)03203-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  65. Nostramo R, Varia SN, Zhang B, Emerson MM, Herman PK. The catalytic activity of the Ubp3 deubiquitinating protease is required for efficient stress granule assembly in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Molecular and Cellular Biology. 2016;36:173–183. doi: 10.1128/MCB.00609-15. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  66. O'Connell JD, Tsechansky M, Royal A, Boutz DR, Ellington AD, Marcotte EM. A proteomic survey of widespread protein aggregation in yeast. Molecular BioSystems. 2014;10:851–861. doi: 10.1039/c3mb70508k. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  67. Orij R, Postmus J, Ter Beek A, Brul S, Smits GJ. In vivo measurement of cytosolic and mitochondrial pH using a pH-sensitive GFP derivative in Saccharomyces cerevisiae reveals a relation between intracellular pH and growth. Microbiology. 2009;155:268–278. doi: 10.1099/mic.0.022038-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  68. Park S, Kim W, Tian G, Gygi SP, Finley D. Structural defects in the regulatory particle-core particle interface of the proteasome induce a novel proteasome stress response. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2011;286:36652–36666. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M111.285924. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  69. Parry BR, Surovtsev IV, Cabeen MT, O'Hern CS, Dufresne ER, Jacobs-Wagner C. The bacterial cytoplasm has glass-like properties and is fluidized by metabolic activity. Cell. 2014;156:183–194. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.11.028. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  70. Penfield S, Graham S, Graham IA. Storage reserve mobilization in germinating oilseeds: Arabidopsis as a model system. Biochemical Society Transactions. 2005;33:380–383. doi: 10.1042/BST0330380. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  71. Peters LZ, Hazan R, Breker M, Schuldiner M, Ben-Aroya S. Formation and dissociation of proteasome storage granules are regulated by cytosolic pH. The Journal of Cell Biology. 2013;201:663–671. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201211146. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  72. Peters LZ, Karmon O, David-Kadoch G, Hazan R, Yu T, Glickman MH, Ben-Aroya S. The protein quality control machinery regulates its misassembled proteasome subunits. PLoS Genetics. 2015;11:e1005178. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005178. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  73. Peters LZ, Karmon O, Miodownik S, Ben-Aroya S. Proteasome storage granules are transiently associated with the insoluble protein deposit in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Journal of Cell Science. 2016;129:1190–1197. doi: 10.1242/jcs.179648. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  74. Petrovska I, Nüske E, Munder MC, Kulasegaran G, Malinovska L, Kroschwald S, Richter D, Fahmy K, Gibson K, Verbavatz J-M, Alberti S. Filament formation by metabolic enzymes is a specific adaptation to an advanced state of cellular starvation. eLife. 2014;3:e02409. doi: 10.7554/eLife.02409. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  75. Pfaffl MW. A new mathematical model for relative quantification in real-time RT-PCR. Nucleic Acids Research. 2001;29:45. doi: 10.1093/nar/29.9.e45. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  76. Polevoda B, Cardillo TS, Doyle TC, Bedi GS, Sherman F. Nat3p and Mdm20p are required for function of yeast NatB Nalpha-terminal acetyltransferase and of actin and tropomyosin. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2003;278:30686–30697. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M304690200. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  77. Polevoda B, Norbeck J, Takakura H, Blomberg A, Sherman F. Identification and specificities of N-terminal acetyltransferases from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The EMBO Journal. 1999;18:6155–6168. doi: 10.1093/emboj/18.21.6155. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  78. Reggiori F, Klionsky DJ. Autophagic processes in yeast: mechanism, machinery and regulation. Genetics. 2013;194:341–361. doi: 10.1534/genetics.112.149013. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  79. Reggiori F, Monastyrska I, Shintani T, Klionsky DJ. The actin cytoskeleton is required for selective types of autophagy, but not non-specific autophagy, in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 2005;16:5843–5856. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E05-07-0629. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  80. Rinaldi T, Hofmann L, Gambadoro A, Cossard R, Livnat-Levanon N, Glickman MH, Frontali L, Delahodde A. Dissection of the carboxyl-terminal domain of the proteasomal subunit Rpn11 in maintenance of mitochondrial structure and function. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 2008;19:1022–1031. doi: 10.1091/mbc.e07-07-0717. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  81. Roche B, Arcangioli B, Martienssen R. Transcriptional reprogramming in cellular quiescence. RNA Biology. 2017;14:843–853. doi: 10.1080/15476286.2017.1327510. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  82. Russell SJ, Steger KA, Johnston SA. Subcellular localization, stoichiometry, and protein levels of 26S proteasome subunits in yeast. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 1999;274:21943–21952. doi: 10.1074/jbc.274.31.21943. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  83. Saarikangas J, Barral Y. Protein aggregation as a mechanism of adaptive cellular responses. Current Genetics. 2016;62:711–724. doi: 10.1007/s00294-016-0596-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  84. Sadre-Bazzaz K, Whitby FG, Robinson H, Formosa T, Hill CP. Structure of a Blm10 complex reveals common mechanisms for proteasome binding and gate opening. Molecular Cell. 2010;37:728–735. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2010.02.002. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  85. Sala AJ, Bott LC, Morimoto RI. Shaping proteostasis at the cellular, tissue, and organismal level. The Journal of Cell Biology. 2017;216:1231–1241. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201612111. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  86. Saunier R, Esposito M, Dassa EP, Delahodde A. Integrity of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rpn11 protein is critical for formation of proteasome storage granules (PSG) and survival in stationary phase. PLoS One. 2013;8:e70357. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070357. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  87. Schmidt M, Haas W, Crosas B, Santamaria PG, Gygi SP, Walz T, Finley D. The HEAT repeat protein Blm10 regulates the yeast proteasome by capping the core particle. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 2005;12:294–303. doi: 10.1038/nsmb914. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  88. Shah KH, Nostramo R, Zhang B, Varia SN, Klett BM, Herman PK. Protein kinases are associated with multiple, distinct cytoplasmic granules in quiescent yeast cells. Genetics. 2014;198:1495–1512. doi: 10.1534/genetics.114.172031. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  89. Shintani T, Huang WP, Stromhaug PE, Klionsky DJ. Mechanism of cargo selection in the cytoplasm to vacuole targeting pathway. Developmental Cell. 2002;3:825–837. doi: 10.1016/S1534-5807(02)00373-8. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  90. Smith DM, Kafri G, Cheng Y, Ng D, Walz T, Goldberg AL. ATP binding to PAN or the 26S ATPases causes association with the 20S proteasome, gate opening, and translocation of unfolded proteins. Molecular Cell. 2005;20:687–698. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2005.10.019. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  91. Suresh HG, da Silveira Dos Santos AX, Kukulski W, Tyedmers J, Riezman H, Bukau B, Mogk A. Prolonged starvation drives reversible sequestration of lipid biosynthetic enzymes and organelle reorganization in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 2015;26:1601–1615. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E14-11-1559. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  92. Takeshige K, Baba M, Tsuboi S, Noda T, Ohsumi Y. Autophagy in yeast demonstrated with proteinase-deficient mutants and conditions for its induction. The Journal of Cell Biology. 1992;119:301–311. doi: 10.1083/jcb.119.2.301. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  93. Teste MA, Duquenne M, François JM, Parrou JL. Validation of reference genes for quantitative expression analysis by real-time RT-PCR in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. BMC Molecular Biology. 2009;10:99. doi: 10.1186/1471-2199-10-99. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  94. Thompson AR, Doelling JH, Suttangkakul A, Vierstra RD. Autophagic nutrient recycling in Arabidopsis directed by the ATG8 and ATG12 conjugation pathways. Plant Physiology. 2005;138:2097–2110. doi: 10.1104/pp.105.060673. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  95. Valcourt JR, Lemons JM, Haley EM, Kojima M, Demuren OO, Coller HA. Staying alive: metabolic adaptations to quiescence. Cell Cycle. 2012;11:1680–1696. doi: 10.4161/cc.19879. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  96. van Deventer S, Menendez-Benito V, van Leeuwen F, Neefjes J. N-terminal acetylation and replicative age affect proteasome localization and cell fitness during aging. Journal of Cell Science. 2015;128:109–117. doi: 10.1242/jcs.157354. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  97. Vilchez D, Saez I, Dillin A. The role of protein clearance mechanisms in organismal ageing and age-related diseases. Nature Communications. 2014;5:5659. doi: 10.1038/ncomms6659. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  98. Waite KA, De La Mota-Peynado A, Vontz G, Roelofs J. Starvation induces proteasome autophagy with different pathways for core and regulatory particles. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2016;291:3239–3253. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M115.699124. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  99. Wang X, Chemmama IE, Yu C, Huszagh A, Xu Y, Viner R, Block SA, Cimermancic P, Rychnovsky SD, Ye Y, Sali A, Huang L. The proteasome-interacting Ecm29 protein disassembles the 26S proteasome in response to oxidative stress. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2017;292:16310–16320. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M117.803619. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  100. Wasko BM, Carr DT, Tung H, Doan H, Schurman N, Neault JR, Feng J, Lee J, Zipkin B, Mouser J, Oudanonh E, Nguyen T, Stetina T, Shemorry A, Lemma M, Kaeberlein M. Buffering the pH of the culture medium does not extend yeast replicative lifespan. F1000 Research. 2013;2:216. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.2-216.v1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  101. Weberruss MH, Savulescu AF, Jando J, Bissinger T, Harel A, Glickman MH, Enenkel C. Blm10 facilitates nuclear import of proteasome core particles. The EMBO Journal. 2013;32:2697–2707. doi: 10.1038/emboj.2013.192. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  102. Wick AN, Drury DR, Nakada HI, Wolfe JB. Localization of the primary metabolic block produced by 2-deoxyglucose. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 1957;224:963–969. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  103. Yedidi RS, Fatehi AK, Enenkel C. Proteasome dynamics between proliferation and quiescence stages of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Critical Reviews in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 2016;51:497–512. doi: 10.1080/10409238.2016.1230087. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  104. Yerbury JJ, Ooi L, Dillin A, Saunders DN, Hatters DM, Beart PM, Cashman NR, Wilson MR, Ecroyd H. Walking the tightrope: proteostasis and neurodegenerative disease. Journal of Neurochemistry. 2016;137:489–505. doi: 10.1111/jnc.13575. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Decision letter

Editor: Raymond J Deshaies1

In the interests of transparency, eLife includes the editorial decision letter and accompanying author responses. A lightly edited version of the letter sent to the authors after peer review is shown, indicating the most substantive concerns; minor comments are not usually included.

Thank you for submitting your article "Proteasome storage granules protect proteasomes from autophagic degradation upon carbon starvation." for consideration by eLife. Your article has been favorably evaluated by Jonathan Cooper (Senior Editor) and three reviewers, one of whom, Raymond J Deshaies (Reviewer #1), is a member of our Board of Reviewing Editors.

The reviewers have discussed the reviews with one another and the Reviewing Editor has drafted this decision to help you prepare a revised submission.

Summary:

This paper proposes a role for proteasome storage granules (PSGs) in protecting proteasomes from autophagy. PSGs form when yeast cells are starved of carbon source. They are rapidly dissolved upon re-feeding. Interestingly, PSGs do not form upon nitrogen starvation, and instead the proteasomes are taken up into the vacuole by autophagy (which the authors refer to as proteaphagy) and degraded. A key observation in the paper is that in cells doubly starved for carbon and nitrogen, proteasomes enter in to PSGs and are not subject to proteaphagy. Furthermore, mutations (e.g. ∆blm10) that prevent PSG formation upon carbon starvation result in proteophagy. By contrast, treatments that promote PSG formation (e.g. 2-deoxyglucose) block proteophagy upon nitrogen starvation. The authors go on to show that there is a strong correlation between PSG formation and speed of growth recovery upon re-feeding starved cells. This suggests that an important function of PSGs is to allow cells to preserve their proteasomes in times of carbon starvation stress, such that they can quickly recover when more resources are available.

Essential revisions:

A key finding of this work is that formation of PSGs correlates with more rapid recovery from starvation. Most of the data on this point are correlative, and it is difficult to rule out that the treatments used do not exert their effect through perturbing or promoting some process other than PSG formation. With this in mind, there are two experiments that would strengthen this key section of the paper that the reviewers believe should be done:

1) Repeat the ∆ubp3 rescue experiment with a mutant other than ∆blm10 (e.g. ∆nat3; a ∆nat3 ∆ubp3strain should recover from carbon starvation faster than ∆nat3), to establish that this effect is not limited to one particular mutant/treatment.

2) Examine the effect of ∆ubp3 on recovery from starvation in ∆spg5. This is a key experiment because proteaphagy in carbon-starved ∆spg5 is not blocked by introducing ∆ubp3. Thus, a ∆spg5 ∆ubp3 strain should not show more rapid resumption of growth compared to ∆spg5, in the assay shown in Figure 8K. This would be particularly striking because ∆ubp3 does have a beneficial effect when this assay is performed with ∆blm10, and thus would greatly strengthen the correlation between low proteaphagy and rapid resumption of growth.

In addition, given that this paper shows for the first time the behavior of PSGs in Arabidopsis, the authors should evaluate whether these structures are reversible as they are in yeast.

Reviewer #1:

The authors have examined the ability of cells of different genotype or treated with different agents to recover upon re-feeding following nitrogen, carbon, or nitrogen and carbon starvation. These experiments paint a consistent picture: if a cell can form PSGs upon starvation to protect its proteasomes from proteophagy, it recovers more rapidly upon refeeding. My one comment here is that I would like to see the ∆ubp3 rescue in more than one example. Currently, the authors show that ∆ubp3 will rescue the recovery defect of a ∆blm10 mutant. Is that same true for ∆nat3, for example?

The other major concern I have is that it is hard to exclude that PSGs form for some other reason other than to protect the proteasome from proteophagy. The authors could address this by being a bit more circumspect in their Discussion. The recovery experiments described in the prior paragraph provide further support for this contention, but given that all of the mutants analyzed are likely to impact multiple physiological processes, it is difficult to exclude that the major protective effect of Blm10 or Nat3 is through some process other than PSG formation.

Another issue that is not addressed is why formation of PSGs would protect from autophagy? There is a paragraph in the Discussion devoted to this topic but it focuses almost entirely on how/why PSGs form and says little about how formation of these structures would prevent autophagy. Autophagy can clearly process large structures including mitochondria and IPODs. Why would formation of PSGs be protective? Perhaps the authors can include a few lines on this in the Discussion.

Reviewer #2:

In the present study, the authors show that the formation of proteasome storage granules (PSGs), which are formed under carbon-starvation conditions, antagonizes proteaphagy. The CP and RP are separated when the ATP level is reduced, but both accumulate at the same PSGs. They further show that autophagic degradation of proteasomes, which is inhibited by the PSG formation, delays the resumption of cell growth after carbon starvation-replenishment, suggesting a reservoir function of PSGs. Finally, the authors show this phenomenon also in Arabidopsis.

Overall, this study is well performed and presented. The methods used in this study are appropriate. Remaining questions would be how PSGs are able to escape from autophagic degradation and how de-ubiquitination is important for proteaphagy. However, these could be future studies as the authors have made significant progress in revealing a role of PSG formation in protection from autophagic degradation and cell regrowth after starvation.

Reviewer #3:

Marshall and Vierstra report that PSGs and proteaphagy function antagonistically in regulating proteasome abundance during carbon and nitrogen starvation in both yeast and plant cells. PSGs help protect proteasomes from autophagic degradation upon carbon starvation, and promote cell fitness upon recovery from carbon starvation. In carbon-starved cells, the sequestration of the proteasome core particle (CP) into PSGs is dependent on Blm10, while the deposition of the regulatory particle (RP) into PSGs is facilitated by Spg5. In the absence of Blm10, which redirects CPs to the vacuole, active Ubp3 is required for CP proteaphagy under carbon starvation. Assembly of PSG-like structures and protection of proteasomes from proteaphagy under fixed carbon starvation can be reproduced in Arabidopsis. Whether these PSG-like structures in Arabidopsis can be rapidly remobilized upon recovery from carbon starvation is unknown.

Overall, this manuscript provides important biological insight into at least one function of PSG formation. The idea that PSGs act to protect functional proteasomes from autophagy under carbon starvation, or energy-depleted, conditions (and possibly the same for other cellular 'puncta') is attractive and well supported by the data. The paper is also well written and well organized. I think the paper would be suitable for publication in eLife after the modest criticisms, suggestions, and corrections below are addressed:

o The apparent mass of the cleaved GFP in the western blots from yeast extracts (Ex. Figures 1A-1C) was larger than what would be expected. In contrast, the free GFP MW from plant protein extracts was close to the expected size (Figures 9A, 10A). Please explain this difference.

o Can the cytoplasmic foci (Figure 1D) be rapidly remobilized to the nucleus after switching to fresh YPGA that has 2% glycerol? Similarly, can the 2-DG-induced cytoplasmic foci (Figure 3E) remobilize upon switching to fresh +N +C medium?

o What percentage of cells have separate cytoplasmic foci of Pre10-GFP and Rnq1-mCherry in Figure 1H?

o As shown in Figure 5F, some mCherry-Spg5 puncta colocalize with Rpn5-GFP in carbon-starved cells, which seems inconsistent with the description in the last paragraph of the subsection “Spg5 helps deliver the RP to PSGs and protects the RP from proteaphagy”. Similarly, some mCherry-Spg5 puncta colocalized with Pre10-GFP (Figure 4—figure supplement 1C); again this is inconsistent with the description in the text. Please address this apparent discrepancy, and more importantly, provide the percentage of PSGs marked by Rpn5 or Pre10 that co-localize or not with Spg5.

o In Figure 7C, what is the GFP cleavage profile for Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP in the ∆ubp3 mutant?

o For the starvation treatments on 5-day-old Arabidopsis seedlings, is there data indicating the nutrients from seeds are exhausted at this time point? Also, ConA was only added to the medium for starvation treatments. Could ConA cause proteasome relocalization to form cytoplasmic foci in Arabidopsis even when grow in nutrient rich medium?

o In Figure 9, can these PSG-like structures in Arabidopsis be remobilized into nuclei upon carbon restoration? It would be nice, but not essential, in establishing the parallels with yeast PSGs, to show whether these PSG-like structures in Arabidopsis roots behave similarly compared to the PSGs in yeast.

o There is no description of the methods used for plant protein extraction as far as I can tell.

o I did not see any details or citation for the atg7-2 mutant line used in Figure 10D.

eLife. 2018 Apr 6;7:e34532. doi: 10.7554/eLife.34532.038

Author response


Essential revisions:

A key finding of this work is that formation of PSGs correlates with more rapid recovery from starvation. Most of the data on this point are correlative, and it is difficult to rule out that the treatments used do not exert their effect through perturbing or promoting some process other than PSG formation. With this in mind, there are two experiments that would strengthen this key section of the paper that the reviewers believe should be done:

1) Repeat the ∆ubp3 rescue experiment with a mutant other than ∆blm10 (e.g. ∆nat3; a nat3 ubp3 strain should recover from carbon starvation faster than nat3), to establish that this effect is not limited to one particular mutant/treatment.

We agree that much of the data regarding PSG formation and its relation to cellular fitness is indeed correlative, but we feel that our conclusions are strongly based on the fact that so many different mutations and treatments led to results that pointed in the same direction. As such, we agree with the reviewers that performing the additional Δubp3 rescue experiments would be important. To address this point we undertook two approaches. The first involved assessing the effect of combining the Δnat3 and Δubp3 mutations on i) the localisation of Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP as determined by confocal microscopy, and ii) the release of free GFP as determined by immunoblot. These data (now included in a new Figure 7—figure supplement 1A, B, C and D) clearly demonstrate that, while Pre10-GFP is delivered to the vacuole upon carbon starvation in Δnat3 cells (which do not form PSGs), this delivery is blocked in Δnat3 Δubp3 double mutant cells. Likewise, while autophagic release of free GFP from the Pre10-GFP reporter is readily detectable by immunoblot in Δnat3 cells following carbon starvation, this release is greatly reduced in the Δnat3 Δubp3 double mutant. These results now confirm that Ubp3 is required for delivery of the CP to the vacuole in two separate mutant strains; Δblm10 (Figure 7A and C) and Δnat3 (this new data). Interestingly, delivery of Rpn5-GFP to the vacuole, and release of free GFP from this reporter, was not blocked in the Δnat3 Δubp3 mutant, confirming the finding of both ourselves and Waite et al. (2016) that Ubp3 activity is required only for delivery of the CP to the vacuole upon starvation.

The second approach involved performing the yeast growth assays to monitor cell fitness following starvation with the Δnat3 single mutant and the Δnat3 Δubp3 double mutant, as suggested by the reviewers. These data (included in a new Figure 8K, L and M (replacing the original panels)) again correlate well with the data obtained for the Δblm10 and Δblm10 Δubp3 mutants. While the Δnat3 and Δnat3 Δubp3 cells grow slightly more slowly than wild type in the absence of starvation, growth recovery of the Δnat3 strain following carbon starvation is substantially reduced compared to the control (taking approximately 3 to 4 hours, compared to less than 1 hour for wild type). However, when the Δnat3 and Δubp3 mutations were combined, the cells were better able to resume growth following restoration of the carbon source than were Δnat3 cells alone (Figure 8K, L and M). These results add additional support to our conclusion that the extent of proteasome degradation upon carbon starvation impacts the ability of cells to recover from the starvation treatment.

2) Examine the effect of ∆ubp3 on recovery from starvation in ∆spg5. This is a key experiment because proteaphagy in carbon-starved ∆spg5 is not blocked by introducing ∆ubp3. Thus, a ∆spg5∆ubp3 strain should not show more rapid resumption of growth compared to ∆spg5, in the assay shown in Figure 8K. This would be particularly striking because ∆ubp3 does have a beneficial effect when this assay is performed with ∆blm10, and thus would greatly strengthen the correlation between low proteaphagy and rapid resumption of growth.

We again agree with the editors and reviewers that this experiment would provide strong additional support for our model. As such, we performed the experiment, and the data is now included in a new Figure 8N, O and P (replacing the original panels K, L and M). As anticipated by the reviewers, while the Δspg5 mutant cells showed a modest reduction in growth recovery following starvation (the effect is less severe than for the Δblm10 and Δnat3 mutants, as deleting Spg5 merely delays, rather than completely blocking, the delivery of the RP into PSGs; it may also reflect the fact that maintaining a pool of the CP is more important to growth resumption than is preserving the RP), combing the Δspg5 and Δubp3 mutations did not lead to faster growth recovery, in contrast to the effects seen when Δubp3 was combined with Δblm10 or Δnat3. Both this data and the new data from point 1 now considerably strengthen the observed correlation between low levels of proteaphagy and rapid resumption of cell growth following renewed availability of nutrients.

In addition, given that this paper shows for the first time the behavior of PSGs in Arabidopsis, the authors should evaluate whether these structures are reversible as they are in yeast.

We thank the reviewers for this suggestion. We subjected 5 day-old PAG1:PAG1-GFP pag1-1 seedlings grown in the light in sucrose-containing medium to 24 hours of fixed-carbon starvation by switching them to sucrose-free medium and growing them in the dark to prevent photosynthesis. We then returned the seedlings to a sucrose-containing medium and re-exposed them to the light, and monitored the fate of the cytoplasmic PSG-like structures over time. These results are now presented in a new Figure 9F. As can clearly be seen, the strong nuclear and diffuse cytoplasmic fluorescence signal observed in root cells grown in nutrient-rich medium was greatly reduced, and was instead found in bright cytoplasmic puncta when the seedlings were subjected to fixed carbon starvation. However, when the carbon source was replenished, these puncta began to disperse, and the cytoplasmic and nuclear signal returned. This was visible even 1 hour following the cessation of starvation, and after 4 hours the cytoplasmic puncta had essentially disappeared. The rapid reversibility of these punctate structures in Arabidopsis lends further support to our proposal that these are PSGs, and that they perform an equivalent function in plants as they do in yeast.

Reviewer #1:

The authors have examined the ability of cells of different genotype or treated with different agents to recover upon refeeding following nitrogen, carbon, or nitrogen plus carbon starvation. These experiments paint a consistent picture: if a cell can form PSGs upon starvation to protect its proteasomes from proteaphagy, it recovers more rapidly upon refeeding. My one comment here is that I would like to see the ∆ubp3 rescue in more than one example. Currently, the authors show that ∆ubp3 will rescue the recovery defect of a ∆blm10 mutant. Is that same true for ∆nat3, for example?

We thank the reviewer for their suggestion, and refer them to point 1 of the essential revisions described above.

The other major concern I have, which is that it is hard to exclude that PSGs form for some other reason other than to protect the proteasome from proteaphagy. The authors could address this by being a bit more circumspect in their Discussion. The recovery experiments described in the prior paragraph provide further support for this contention, but given that all of the mutants analyzed are likely to impact multiple physiological processes, it is difficult to exclude that the major protective effect of Blm10 or Nat3 is through some process other than PSG formation.

We apologise to the reviewer for not addressing their second major concern, but unfortunately this was not communicated to us following the initial review of our pre-submission. We agree with the reviewer that, on their own, each mutant or treatment condition we have studied (the Δblm10, Δnat3, Δspg5, Δubp3, rpn11-m1 and rpn11-m5 mutants, plus growth at high or low pH and treatment with 2-DG) likely impacts multiple cellular processes, and thus we cannot exclude that their major effects on proteaphagy, and the positive effect some of them impart on cell growth recovery after starvation, are mediated through other processes. However, we do feel that the overall weight of the evidence, with multiple mutants and treatment conditions all showing results consistent with our hypothesis, favours our conclusion that PSG formation protects proteasomes from autophagic degradation and helps improve cell fitness following recovery from starvation. We have taken the reviewer’s advice and modified our discussion to take into account the very valid point that was raised and added the sentence below to the Discussion:

“While we cannot exclude the remote possibility that PSGs also have alternative functions, and/or that the ability of the various factors studied here to protect proteasomes from autophagy arises from processes unrelated to PSGs, the sum of our results strongly converges to this conclusion.”

Another issue that is not addressed is why formation of PSGs would protect from autophagy? There is a paragraph in the Discussion devoted to this topic but it focuses almost entirely on how/why PSGs form and says little about how formation of these structures would prevent autophagy. Autophagy can clearly process large structures including mitochondria and IPODs. Why would formation of PSGs be protective? Perhaps the authors can include a few lines on this in the Discussion.

We again agree with the reviewer that this is an interesting point worthy of inclusion in our Discussion, and we have thus modified it accordingly (see Discussion, ninth paragraph). We are currently lacking experimental data addressing how exactly PSGs (and potentially other biomolecular condensates) are able to evade the autophagy machinery, and so the newly added text is necessarily rather speculative. However, data in our new Figure 1—figure supplement 2C obtained in response to point 1 raised by reviewer 2 indicates that PSGs can form independently to the PAS, and there is thus at least a degree of spatial separation between PSGs and the autophagy machinery (this has been mentioned in the aforementioned paragraph). Whether there is some particular biophysical or structural property of PSGs (and maybe other condensates) that allows them to evade autophagy is an interesting question that to our knowledge has not yet been addressed in the literature.

Reviewer #2:

[…] Overall, this study is well performed and presented. The methods used in this study are appropriate. Remaining questions would be how PSGs are able to escape from autophagic degradation and how de-ubiquitination is important for proteaphagy. However, these could be future studies as the authors have made a significant progress in revealing a role of PSG formation in protection from autophagic degradation and cell regrowth after starvation.

We thank the reviewer for their positive comments about or work. We agree with reviewer #2 that how PSGs escape capture by the autophagy machinery, and precisely how de-ubiquitylation fits into the picture, are important question that we intend to address in the future.

Reviewer #3:

[…] I think the paper would be suitable for publication in eLife after the modest criticisms, suggestions, and corrections below are addressed:

o The apparent mass of the cleaved GFP in the western blots from yeast extracts (Ex. Figures 1A-1C) was larger than what would be expected. In contrast, the free GFP MW from plant protein extracts was close to the expected size (Figures 9A, 10A). Please explain this difference.

As the reviewer correctly points out, there is a discrepancy in the size of the free GFP observed between yeast and plant cell extracts on our immunoblots. We have noticed this before, and indeed it has been a consistent feature of the experiments we have performed with yeast that the free GFP band runs at around the 30-31 kDa mark (see e.g. Marshall et al., 2016), rather than around 27-28 kDa in the plant cell extracts. Unfortunately, we currently have no satisfactory explanation for this phenomenon. One possibility is that plant and yeast vacuolar hydrolases may have different cleavage specificities, meaning that the GFP gets processed at a different position. Alternatively, there may be some differences in buffer composition between our yeast and plant cell extraction methods that cause this difference. A brief review of the autophagy literature does reveal considerable discrepancy between the size of the free GFP band between (and even within) different studies, ranging from smaller than 20 kDa (e.g. in Lu et al., 2014) up to 30-31 kDa (e.g. in Müller et al., 2015), but the reasons for this are not yet clear.

o Can the cytoplasmic foci (Figure 1D) be rapidly remobilized to the nucleus after switching to fresh YPGA that has 2% glycerol? Similarly, can the 2-DG-induced cytoplasmic foci (Figure 3E) remobilize upon switching to fresh +N +C medium?

We thank the reviewer for this suggestion, and have performed the suggested experiments, which are now included in new Figure 1—figure supplements 2D and 2E. In either case, the cytoplasmic foci observed upon carbon starvation or 2-DG treatment were rapidly re-mobilised upon switching to fresh carbon-containing medium, or medium lacking 2-DG, respectively. This occurred within 30 minutes following cessation of starvation (the earliest time point examined), and within 1 hour of the removal of 2-DG (the slightly slower resorption rate following 2-DG treatment is likely due to incomplete removal of the chemical following wash-out). This timing is consistent with the previous study by Laporte et al. (2008), who showed that PSGs are rapidly re-mobilised within 15 minutes following exit from quiescence.

o What percentage of cells have separate cytoplasmic foci of Pre10-GFP and Rnq1-mCherry in Figure 1H?

To address this question we grew and imaged more cells expressing PRE10-GFP and RNQ1-mCherry, and quantified the number of cells containing distinct GFP and mCherry puncta following carbon starvation. Over 90% of cells (from over 200 quantified) had these distinct puncta, and this is now mentioned in the fifth paragraph of the subsection “Proteasomes are rapidly degraded by autophagy in response to nitrogen but not carbon starvation”.

o As shown in Figure 5F, some mCherry-Spg5 puncta colocalize with Rpn5-GFP in carbon-starved cells, which seems inconsistent with the description in the last paragraph of the subsection “Spg5 helps deliver the RP to PSGs and protects the RP from proteaphagy”. Similarly, some mCherry-Spg5 puncta colocalized with Pre10-GFP (Figure 4—figure supplement 1C); again this is inconsistent with the description in text. Please address this apparent discrepancy, and more importantly, provide the percentage of PSGs marked by Rpn5 or Pre10 that co-localize or not with Spg5.

We thank the reviewer for noticing that our description of the co-localization data was not as precise as it should have been. They are indeed correct that there are rare instances in which mCherry-Spg5 does indeed appear to co-localize in cytoplasmic puncta with either Pre10-GFP or Rpn5-GFP. As such, we have modified the Discussion in the last paragraph of the subsection “Spg5 helps deliver the RP to PSGs and protects the RP from proteaphagy”, to make this clear. In addition, we grew and imaged more cells expressing either PRE10-GFP or RPN5-GFP together with mCherry-SPG5, and quantified the number of cells containing overlapping GFP and mCherry puncta following carbon starvation. We found that 12% of cells (from over 200 quantified) had puncta containing both Rpn5-GFP and mCherry-Spg5, while the remaining 88% showed puncta containing Rpn5-GFP only. Similarly, just 6% of cells (from over 200 quantified) had puncta containing both Pre10-GFP and mCherry-Spg5, while the remaining 94% showed puncta containing Pre10-GFP only. This quantification has been included in the aforementioned paragraph.

o In Figure 7C, what is the GFP cleavage profile for Pre10-GFP and Rpn5-GFP in ∆ubp3 mutant?

We thank the reviewer for pointing out this omission from our original experimental design. To address this, we have replaced the immunoblots in Figure 7C with new blots that include the GFP cleavage profile of Pre10-GFP or Rpn5-GFP in Δubp3 cells alone, together with the other genotypes included in the original Figure. In both cases, the absence of Ubp3 alone did not cause additional release of free GFP compared to wild-type cells.

o For the starvation treatments on 5-d-old Arabidopsis seedlings, is there data indicating the nutrients from seeds are exhausted at this time point?

We thank the reviewer for raising this interesting point. There is indeed literature describing the mobilisation of seed storage reserves upon seed germination in Arabidopsis. The major nitrogen sources are the seed storage proteins, which in Arabidopsis are 12S globulins and 2S albumins. These are known to be fully degraded within 4 days of seed germination (see, for example, Figure 6 of Hunter et al., 2007 and Figure S3A of Gao et al., 2015). Likewise, the major carbon reserve in Arabidopsis seeds is considered to be triacylglycerol (TAG), and the TAG marker fatty acid eicosenoic acid (20:1) was shown to be more than 95% degraded by day 5 following germination (see Figure 2A of Penfield et al., 2005). As such, we feel that the day 5 time-point selected by us for the Arabidopsis starvation experiments is appropriate. This information, along with the relevant citations, has now been included in the Results subsection “PSG assembly and the protection of proteasomes from proteaphagy are conserved in Arabidopsis”.

Also, ConA was only added to the medium for starvation treatments. Could ConA cause proteasome relocalization to form cytoplasmic foci in Arabidopsis even when grow in nutrient rich medium?

We thank the reviewer for noticing this issue; they are indeed correct that our original experimental design did not preclude the fact that the cytoplasmic puncta observed upon fixed carbon starvation could be caused by the ConA treatment. To address this, we now include data in a new Figure 10—figure supplement 1 confirming that the PSG like structures still form upon fixed carbon starvation even in the absence of ConA treatment. This experiment has the additional advantage of confirming that these PSG-like puncta are likely resident in the cytosol, rather than being stabilised by the ConA treatment inside the vacuole.

o In Figure 9, can these PSG-like structures in Arabidopsis be remobilized into nuclei upon carbon restoration? It would be nice, but not essential, in establishing the parallels with yeast PSGs, to show whether these PSG-like structures in Arabidopsis roots behave similarly compared to the PSGs in yeast.

We thank the reviewer for raising this point, and agree with them that inclusion of this data strengthens our conclusion that the punctate structures containing PAG1-GFP and RPN5a-GFP that are observed in Arabidopsis roots upon fixed carbon starvation are indeed similar to PSGs. Please see point 3 in the essential revisions for details of how we addressed this point.

o There is no description of the methods used for plant protein extraction as far as I can tell.

We thank the reviewer for noticing this omission. A description of the method used for plant protein extraction has now been included in the Materials and Methods subsection “Immunological techniques”.

o I did not see any details or citation for the atg7-2 mutant line used in Figure 10D.

We once again thank the reviewer for noticing this omission. The relevant accession number for this line (GABI_655_B06), and the reference in which it was first described (Chung et al., 2010), are now included in the Materials and Methods subsection “Arabidopsis materials and growth conditions”.

Associated Data

    This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

    Supplementary Materials

    Figure 1—source data 1. Source data for Figure 1F.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.006
    Figure 1—source data 2. Source data for Figure 1—figure supplement 1A and B.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.007
    Figure 1—source data 3. Source data for Figure 1—figure supplement 2B.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.008
    Figure 2—source data 1. Source data for Figure 2—figure supplement 1B.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.011
    Figure 3—source data 1. Source data for Figure 3A and D.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.013
    Figure 4—source data 1. Source data for Figure 4B.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.016
    Figure 5—source data 1. Source data for Figure 5B and E.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.019
    Figure 5—source data 2. Source data for Figure 5—figure supplement 1.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.020
    Figure 6—source data 1. Source data for Figure 6C.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.022
    Figure 8—source data 1. Source data for Figure 8A, B, D, E, F, H, I, K, L, N and O.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.027
    Figure 8—source data 2. Source data for Figure 8—figure supplement 1B, C, E, F, G, H, J, K, M and N.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.028
    Figure 9—source data 1. Source data for Figure 9B.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.030
    Figure 10—source data 1. Source data for Figure 10B.
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.033
    Supplementary file 1. Table S1: Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains used in this study.

    Table S2: Accession numbers of genes used in this study. Table S3: Oligonucleotide primers used in this study.

    elife-34532-supp1.docx (83.6KB, docx)
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.034
    Transparent reporting form
    DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34532.035

    Articles from eLife are provided here courtesy of eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

    RESOURCES