In this study a chemical genomic screen was employed to identify the key regulators involved in buffering the toxic effects of C16:0 PAF and C16:0
lyso-PAF, lipid species previously shown to be elevated in neurons in response to oligomeric Aβ
42 [1]. We identified ten deletion mutants that were sensitive to C16:0 PAF and five deletion mutants that were sensitive to C16:0
lyso-PAF as compared to wild type (,
Table S1). The dramatically different effects on growth () and the minimal overlap in mutants with sensitivity to either lipid suggests that C16:0 PAF, C16:0
lyso-PAF and potentially other PAF species, impinge upon distinct cellular pathways in yeast, which parallels the distinct PAF-mediated effects that have been reported in mammalian systems
[1],
[35]. Such a distinction is important in light of recent evidence that aberrant metabolism, in part, underlies Aβ
42 neurotoxicity with C16:0 PAF, but not C16:0
lyso-PAF or other PAF species
[1],
[2],
[5].
Our unbiased chemical genomic approach identified the deletion mutant of
SRF1 as having the most significant differential sensitivity to C16:0 PAF (). We identified a robust interaction between Srf1-TAP and Spo14 (), whose deletion mutant is also hypersensitive to C16:0 PAF [, and ref. 17]. The identification of a physical interaction between Srf1 and Spo14 is striking as only two other proteins, neither with roles in PLD function, have been reported to co-purify Spo14 in high-throughput TAP studies
[20]. Furthermore, biochemical assays determined that Srf1 is required for PLD activity in mitotic cells ( and ). A role for Srf1 in mitotic PLD activity is also supported by genome-wide synthetic lethal genetic screens which revealed that deletion mutants of both
SPO14 and
SRF1 display genetic interactions with the
sec14-bypass mutants
CKI1 and
KES1 [36]. However, in contrast to Spo14
[24],
[37],
[38], Srf1 is not essential for sporulation () which suggests Srf1 is not regulating PLD activity in meiosis. Our results clearly show that Srf1-TAP can co-purify Spo14 suggesting a model where Spo14 and Srf1 form a complex in mitotic cells that is required for PLD activity and to buffer the toxicity of C16:0 PAF ().
How is Srf1 regulating PLD activity? It is unlikely that the impact of Srf1 on Spo14 protein stability ( and
S1) could explain the complete absence of PLD activity in
srf1Δ cells. Indeed, if Srf1 was only regulating Spo14 protein levels, then overexpression of
SPO14 should have rescued the C16:0 PAF hypersensitivity of
srf1Δ cells (). Additionally, it is unlikely that Srf1 is regulating PLD activity through Spo14 localization as we found that Spo14 remained associated with the particulate fraction and localized to the plasma membrane in the absence of Srf1 ( , and
Figure S1). How else could Srf1 be regulating Spo14? Similar to other eukaryotic PLD enzymes, Spo14 catalytic activity can be regulated by numerous mechanisms aside from changes in expression and localization. The binding of phosphoinositol phosphates, fatty acids, indirect interactions with ADP ribosylation factors (ARFs), and phosphorylation have all been demonstrated to regulate PLD activity
[reviewed in 39]. Hence Srf1 may be regulating Spo14 through one of these established mechanisms. Alternatively, though we do not detect hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine in the absence of Srf1, it is possible that some catalytic activity, possibly against other lipid targets, is still present but misregulated. Indeed this could explain why
srf1Δ cells display greater sensitivity to C16:0 PAF than
spo14Δ cells ( and ). A different explanation for this phenomenon could be attributed to the mislocalization of Spo14 in the absence of Srf1 upon C16:0 PAF treatment (). Namely, that in the absence of Srf1, the interaction of Spo14 with other cellular factors is perturbed thereby potentially serving to titrate away other cellular factors important in the response to PAF. Deletion of
SPO14 in combination with deletion of
SRF1 would thereby alleviate C16:0 PAF toxicity to that level which is observed solely in the absence of PLD activity. The exact mechanism of how Srf1 regulates Spo14 activity will require further investigation with recombinant proteins to confirm direct interaction and reconstitute the complex activity. However, our work clearly shows that Srf1 is a novel interactor and regulator of Spo14 PLD activity in mitotic cells and together Srf1 and Spo14 are necessary to buffer the toxic effects of C16:0 PAF ().
Our yeast chemical genomic study and murine cell culture work indicate that the role of PLD activity in buffering the cytotoxic effects of C16:0 PAF is potentially conserved across species. How is PLD buffering the toxic effect of this GPC? One possibility is that PLD is rapidly inactivating C16:0 PAF through choline hydrolysis. Indeed, human PLD has been shown to be capable of hydrolysing
lyso-PAF species
[40]. However a simpler explanation is that PA (or downstream diacylglycerol (DAG)) isoforms signal inhibition of C16:0 PAF toxicity. Indeed, expression of the
E.coli DAG kinase, which converts DAG to PA, has been shown to suppress the toxicity of
lyso-PAF and PAF in wild type yeast
[17]. While C16:0 PAF treatment is not inhibiting the PLD catalytic activity ( and
[28]), it is causing the delocalization of GFP-Spo14 and PA concentrations from the cell periphery ( and
Figure S1). Intriguingly the C16:0 PAF-mediated delocalization of GFP-Spo14 is dependent on Srf1 (). This suggests that the localized generation of PA (or PAF hydrolysis) may be required to buffer the toxic effects of C16:0 PAF. One possibility is that delocalization of GFP-Spo14 and decreased PA levels from the periphery may induce a transcriptional response that is necessary to survive C16:0 PAF exposure. Indeed PA has been shown to play a direct role in the transcriptional regulation of phospholipid biosynthetic genes through the transcriptional repressor Opi1 (
[31], and reviewed in
[39]. Further, our chemical genomic screen supports this hypothesis as several genes with established roles in transcription were identified as being differentially sensitive to C16:0 PAF, including two members of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeler complex,
SNF6 and
TAF14, and the transcriptional regulator
UME6 (). Although PAF has been implicated in mediating changes in gene expression, particularly those involved in responses to inflammation
[41], the mechanism(s) by which these transcriptional changes occur in response to PAF are not clearly understood, nor is it known if a PAF-mediated transcriptional response is contributing to Aβ-induced neuronal toxicity.
An alternative, but not mutually exclusive hypothesis, is that PLD is buffering C16:0 PAF toxicity through membrane trafficking events. Our identification of an interaction between Srf1-TAP and eisosome component Pil1
[42], suggest that PLD activity may impact sites of endocytosis. However, localization of GFP-Spo14 in either untreated or PAF treated cells () are not reminiscent of the eisosome patches found beneath the plasma membrane
[42] nor does recent genetic epistatic miniarray profiles of plasma membrane mutants implicate Spo14 in eisosome function
[43]. Alternatively, despite yeast PLD's relatively minor role in vesicle budding from the Golgi and membrane trafficking
[reviewed in 39], yeast PLD may become essential for lipid membrane trafficking upon C16:0 PAF exposure. It has recently been established that PLD1 is a negative regulator of presenilin by two independent mechanisms
[32],
[33]. Presenilins are a key component of the AD-associated γ-secretase complex, responsible for cleaving the amyloid precursor protein (APP) to Aβ. PLD1, but not PLD2, facilitates both APP and presenilin-1 intracellular trafficking and cell surface accumulation
[33],
[44], however PLD1 also interacts with presenilin inhibiting γ-secretase activity
[32], thus reducing Aβ
42 production. Despite this controversy, it has been suggested that inhibiting PLD1 represents a novel therapeutic approach to reducing APP and presenilin presentation at the plasma membrane and thus retard the rate of Aβ
42 production
[44]. In this study, our unbiased approach suggests that such inhibition may be counterproductive with respect to associated GPC metabolic defects. As intraneuronal C16:0 PAF levels are elevated following exposure to soluble Aβ
42 oligomers
[1] it may be that PLD1 can inhibit the underlying C16:0 PAF ER-stress pathway by reducing Aβ
42 production and slowing the rate of PAF accumulation. Thus careful dissection of the impact of PLD1 on Aβ
42 production and downstream GPC-mediated signaling is warranted. Here, the discovery that PLD is required to buffer the neurotoxic effect of C16:0 PAF suggests that therapeutic strategies modulating PLD activity may be effective in ameliorating the progression of Alzheimer's Disease pathology.