Pablo Wappner

Control of the Hypoxic Response in Drosophila melanogaster by the Basic Helix-Loop-Helix PAS Protein Similar

ABSTRACT In mammalian systems, the heterodimeric basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH)-PAS transcription hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) has emerged as the key regulator of responses to hypoxia. Here we define a homologous system in Drosophila melanogaster, and we characterize its activity in vivo during development. By using transcriptional reporters in developing transgenic flies, we show that hypoxia-inducible activity rises to a peak in late embryogenesis and is most pronounced in tracheal cells. We show that the bHLH-PAS proteins Similar (Sima) and Tango (Tgo) function as HIF-α and HIF-β homologues, respectively, and demonstrate a conserved mode of regulation for Sima by oxygen. Sima protein, but not its mRNA, was upregulated in hypoxia. Time course experiments following pulsed ectopic expression demonstrated that Sima is stabilized in hypoxia and that degradation relies on a central domain encompassing amino acids 692 to 863. Continuous ectopic expression overrode Sima degradation, which remained cytoplasmic in normoxia, and translocated to the nucleus only in hypoxia, revealing a second oxygen-regulated activation step. Abrogation of the Drosophila Egl-9 prolyl hydroxylase homologue, CG1114, caused both stabilization and nuclear localization of Sima, indicating a central involvement in both processes. Tight conservation of the HIF/prolyl hydroxylase system in Drosophila provides a new focus for understanding oxygen homeostasis in intact multicellular organisms.

Cell autonomy of HIF effects in Drosophila: tracheal cells sense hypoxia and induce terminal branch sprouting.

Drosophila tracheal terminal branches are plastic and have the capacity to sprout out projections toward oxygen-starved areas, in a process analogous to mammalian angiogenesis. This response involves the upregulation of FGF/Branchless in hypoxic tissues, which binds its receptor Breathless on tracheal cells. Here, we show that extra sprouting depends on the Hypoxia-Inducible Factor (HIF)-alpha homolog Sima and on the HIF-prolyl hydroxylase Fatiga that operates as an oxygen sensor. In mild hypoxia, Sima accumulates in tracheal cells, where it induces breathless, and this induction is sufficient to provoke tracheal extra sprouting. In nontracheal cells, Sima contributes to branchless induction, whereas overexpression of Sima fails to attract terminal branch outgrowth, suggesting that HIF-independent components are also required for full induction of the ligand. We propose that the autonomous response to hypoxia that occurs in tracheal cells enhances tracheal sensitivity to increasing Branchless levels, and that this mechanism is a cardinal step in hypoxia-dependent tracheal sprouting.

The insulin-PI3K/TOR pathway induces a HIF-dependent transcriptional response in Drosophila by promoting nuclear localization of HIF-α/Sima

The hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is a heterodimeric transcription factor composed of a constitutively expressed HIF-β subunit and an oxygen-regulated HIF-α subunit. We have previously defined a hypoxia-inducible transcriptional response in Drosophila melanogaster that is homologous to the mammalian HIF-dependent response. In Drosophila, the bHLH-PAS proteins Similar (Sima) and Tango (Tgo) are the functional homologues of the mammalian HIF-α and HIF-β subunits, respectively. HIF-α/Sima is regulated by oxygen at several different levels that include protein stability and subcellular localization. We show here for the first time that insulin can activate HIF-dependent transcription, both in Drosophila S2 cells and in living Drosophila embryos. Using a pharmacological approach as well as RNA interference, we determined that the effect of insulin on HIF-dependent transcriptional induction is mediated by PI3K-AKT and TOR pathways. We demonstrate that stimulation of the transcriptional response involves upregulation of Sima protein but not sima mRNA. Finally, we have analyzed in vivo the effect of the activation of the PI3K-AKT pathway on the subcellular localization of Sima protein. Overexpression of dAKT and dPDK1 in normoxic embryos provoked a major increase in Sima nuclear localization, mimicking the effect of a hypoxic treatment. A similar increase in Sima nuclear localization was observed in dPTEN homozygous mutant embryos, confirming that activation of the PI3K-AKT pathway promotes nuclear accumulation of Sima protein. We conclude that regulation of HIF-α/Sima by the PI3K-AKT-TOR pathway is a major conserved mode of regulation of the HIF-dependent transcriptional response in Drosophila.

Reversion of lethality and growth defects in Fatiga oxygen-sensor mutant flies by loss of Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-α/Sima

Hypoxia‐Inducible Factor (HIF) prolyl hydroxylase domains (PHDs) have been proposed to act as sensors that have an important role in oxygen homeostasis. In the presence of oxygen, they hydroxylate two specific prolyl residues in HIF‐α polypeptides, thereby promoting their proteasomal degradation. So far, however, the developmental consequences of the inactivation of PHDs in higher metazoans have not been reported. Here, we describe novel loss‐of‐function mutants of fatiga, the gene encoding the Drosophila PHD oxygen sensor, which manifest growth defects and lethality. We also report a null mutation in dHIF‐α/sima, which is unable to adapt to hypoxia but is fully viable in normoxic conditions. Strikingly, loss‐of‐function mutations of sima rescued the developmental defects observed in fatiga mutants and enabled survival to adulthood. These results indicate that the main functions of Fatiga in development, including control of cell size, involve the regulation of dHIF/Sima.

Regulation of Drosophila hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) activity in SL2 cells: Identification of a hypoxia-induced variant isoform of the HIFα homolog gene similar

Although hypoxia-inducible factor-α (HIFα) subunit-specific hydroxylation and proteolytic breakdown explain the binary switch between the presence (hypoxia) and absence (normoxia) of HIFs, little is known of the mechanisms that fine-tune HIF activity under constant, rather than changing, oxygen tensions. Here, we report that the Drosophila HIFα homolog, the basic helix-loop-helix/PAS protein Sima (Similar), in hypoxic cultures of SL2 cells is expressed in full-length (fl) and splice variant (sv) isoforms. The following evidence supports the role of flSima as functional HIFα and the role of SL2 HIF as a transcriptional activator or suppressor. The pO2 dependence of Sima abundance matched that of HIF activity. HIF-dependent changes in candidate target gene expression were detected through variously effective stimuli: hypoxia (strong) > iron chelation, e.g. desferrioxamine (moderate) >> transition metals, e.g. cobalt ≃ normoxia (ineffective). Sima overexpression augmented hypoxic induction or suppression of different targets. In addition to the full-length exon 1–12 transcript yielding the 1510-amino acid HIFα homolog, the sima gene also expressed, specifically under hypoxia, an exon 1–7/12 splice variant, which translated into a 426-amino acid Sima truncation termed svSima. svSima contains basic helix-loop-helix and PAS sequences identical to those of flSima, but, because of deletion of exons 8–11, lacks the oxygen-dependent degradation domain and nuclear localization signals. Overexpressed svSima failed to transactivate reporter genes. However, it attenuated HIF (Sima·Tango)-stimulated reporter expression in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, svSima has the potential to regulate Drosophila HIF function under steady and hypoxic pO2 by creating a cytosolic sink for the Sima partner protein Tango.

Tracheal remodelling in response to hypoxia.

The insect tracheal system is a continuous tubular network that ramifies into progressively thinner branches to provide air directly to every organ and tissue throughout the body. During embryogenesis the basic architecture of the tracheal system develops in a stereotypical and genetically controlled manner. Later, in larval stages, the tracheal system becomes plastic, and adapts to particular oxygen needs of the different tissues of the body. Oxygen sensing is mediated by specific prolyl-4-hydroxylases that regulate protein stability of the alpha subunit of oxygen-responsive transcription factors from the HIF family. Tracheal cells are exquisitely sensitive to oxygen levels, modulating the expression of hypoxia-inducible proteins that mediate sprouting of tracheal branches in direction to oxygen-deprived tissues.

OGFOD1 catalyzes prolyl hydroxylation of RPS23 and is involved in translation control and stress granule formation

Significance Members of the 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent oxygenase superfamily catalyze a range of important biological oxidations. Structurally informed bioinformatic predictions suggest that the human genome encodes as yet unassigned members of the superfamily. We describe work demonstrating that 2OG and Fe(II)-dependent oxygenase domain-containing protein 1 (OGFOD1) is a protein hydroxylase that modifies the small ribosomal subunit protein RPS23 at a conserved prolyl residue in the ribosome-decoding center and that suppression or deletion of OGFOD1 is associated with the activation of translational stress pathways. Together with studies of homologous genes in flies and yeast described in accompanying manuscripts, the work identifies a unique function for 2OG oxygenase-catalyzed hydroxylation in ribosome biology. 2-Oxoglutarate (2OG) and Fe(II)-dependent oxygenase domain-containing protein 1 (OGFOD1) is predicted to be a conserved 2OG oxygenase, the catalytic domain of which is related to hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylases. OGFOD1 homologs in yeast are implicated in diverse cellular functions ranging from oxygen-dependent regulation of sterol response genes (Ofd1, Schizosaccharomyces pombe) to translation termination/mRNA polyadenylation (Tpa1p, Saccharomyces cerevisiae). However, neither the biochemical activity of OGFOD1 nor the identity of its substrate has been defined. Here we show that OGFOD1 is a prolyl hydroxylase that catalyzes the posttranslational hydroxylation of a highly conserved residue (Pro-62) in the small ribosomal protein S23 (RPS23). Unusually OGFOD1 retained a high affinity for, and forms a stable complex with, the hydroxylated RPS23 substrate. Knockdown or inactivation of OGFOD1 caused a cell type-dependent induction of stress granules, translational arrest, and growth impairment in a manner complemented by wild-type but not inactive OGFOD1. The work identifies a human prolyl hydroxylase with a role in translational regulation.

Epigenetics: New Questions on the Response to Hypoxia

Reduction in oxygen levels below normal concentrations plays important roles in different normal and pathological conditions, such as development, tumorigenesis, chronic kidney disease and stroke. Organisms exposed to hypoxia trigger changes at both cellular and systemic levels to recover oxygen homeostasis. Most of these processes are mediated by Hypoxia Inducible Factors, HIFs, a family of transcription factors that directly induce the expression of several hundred genes in mammalian cells. Although different aspects of HIF regulation are well known, it is still unclear by which precise mechanism HIFs activate transcription of their target genes. Concomitantly, hypoxia provokes a dramatic decrease of general transcription that seems to rely in part on epigenetic changes through a poorly understood mechanism. In this review we discuss the current knowledge on chromatin changes involved in HIF dependent gene activation, as well as on other epigenetic changes, not necessarily linked to HIF that take place under hypoxic conditions.

Drosophila genome-wide RNAi screen identifies multiple regulators of HIF-dependent transcription in hypoxia.

Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are a family of evolutionary conserved alpha-beta heterodimeric transcription factors that induce a wide range of genes in response to low oxygen tension. Molecular mechanisms that mediate oxygen-dependent HIF regulation operate at the level of the alpha subunit, controlling protein stability, subcellular localization, and transcriptional coactivator recruitment. We have conducted an unbiased genome-wide RNA interference (RNAi) screen in Drosophila cells aimed to the identification of genes required for HIF activity. After 3 rounds of selection, 30 genes emerged as critical HIF regulators in hypoxia, most of which had not been previously associated with HIF biology. The list of genes includes components of chromatin remodeling complexes, transcription elongation factors, and translational regulators. One remarkable hit was the argonaute 1 (ago1) gene, a central element of the microRNA (miRNA) translational silencing machinery. Further studies confirmed the physiological role of the miRNA machinery in HIF–dependent transcription. This study reveals the occurrence of novel mechanisms of HIF regulation, which might contribute to developing novel strategies for therapeutic intervention of HIF–related pathologies, including heart attack, cancer, and stroke.

>Morphogenesis and cuticular markers during the larval-pupal transformation of the medfly Ceratitis capitata

Changes in morphology during early metamorphosis of the medfly, Ceratitis capitata (Wied.) (Tephritidae) were correlated with biochemical differentiation events. Protein profiles were studied both in the 3rd instar larval cuticle further transformed into puparium and the newly synthesized pupal cuticle. Beta‐alanine incorporation into the puparium (0–20 h) correlates with concomitant pigmentation (completed by 16 h) and sclerotization phenomena. This early ‘tannification program seems to be followed by deposition of a layer of substances, probably ecdysial fluid remnants, into the puparium. Their deposition ends approximately at +46 h. Simultaneously, pupal cuticle material starts to be deposited. Synthesis and deposition of the main pupal cuticle protein was detected 48 h after pupariation. At that time, eversion of the pupal head occurs. The definitive profile of pupal cuticle proteins was attained at around +72 h together with the establishment of adult body proportions.