Person:

Bauer, Daniel

In multicellular organisms, the mechanisms by which diverse cell types acquire distinct amino acids and how cellular function adapts to their availability are fundamental questions in biology. We found that increased neutral essential amino acid (NEAA) uptake was a critical component of erythropoiesis. As red blood cells matured, expression of the amino acid transporter gene Lat3 increased, which increased NEAA import. Inadequate NEAA uptake by pharmacologic inhibition or RNAi-mediated knockdown of LAT3 triggered a specific reduction in hemoglobin production in zebrafish embryos and murine erythroid cells through the mTORC1 (mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1)/4E-BP (eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E–binding protein) pathway. CRISPR-mediated deletion of members of the 4E-BP family in murine erythroid cells rendered them resistant to mTORC1 and LAT3 inhibition and restored hemoglobin production. These results identify a developmental role for LAT3 in red blood cells and demonstrate that mTORC1 serves as a homeostatic sensor that couples hemoglobin production at the translational level to sufficient uptake of NEAAs, particularly L-leucine.

Heme is required for survival of all cells, and in most eukaryotes, is produced through a series of eight enzymatic reactions. Although heme production is critical for many cellular processes, how it is coupled to cellular differentiation is unknown. Here, using zebrafish, murine, and human models, we show that erythropoietin (EPO) signaling, together with the GATA1 transcriptional target, AKAP10, regulates heme biosynthesis during erythropoiesis at the outer mitochondrial membrane. This integrated pathway culminates with the direct phosphorylation of the crucial heme biosynthetic enzyme, ferrochelatase (FECH) by protein kinase A (PKA). Biochemical, pharmacological, and genetic inhibition of this signaling pathway result in a block in hemoglobin production and concomitant intracellular accumulation of protoporphyrin intermediates. Broadly, our results implicate aberrant PKA signaling in the pathogenesis of hematologic diseases. We propose a unifying model in which the erythroid transcriptional program works in concert with post-translational mechanisms to regulate heme metabolism during normal development. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.24767.001

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) reveal genomic variants associated with human traits and diseases. Most trait-associated variants are located within cell type-specific enhancers, but the molecular mechanism by which they cause phenotypic variation is understood in only a few instances. Here, we show that a striking proportion of enhancer-variants associated with red blood cell (RBC) traits map to enhancers that are co-bound by lineage-specific master transcription factors (MTFs) and signaling transcription factors (STFs) that modulate levels of gene expression in response to extracellular signals. We find that the majority of the enhancer variants alter STF and not MTF motifs. Consequently, they perturb DNA-binding by various signaling factors including BMP/TGF-directed SMADs, WNT-induced TCFs, Hedgehog-responsive GLIs, Notch-dependent HES and affect downstream gene expression. Analysis of activity of SNPs in human CD34+ cells and eQTL analysis from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) verifies that human alleles with disrupted STF binding lead to altered expression of genes that are upregulated during human erythroid differentiation. Our results propose that, of the RBC trait-associated variants that reside on TF binding sequences, the majority fall on DNA sequences recognized by STFs. This suggests that, in many cases, the phenotypic variation of RBC traits could be due to disruptions in STF motifs that lead to altered responsiveness to extracellular stimuli.