Heat shock factor 1 is inactivated by amino acid deprivation

Mammalian cells respond to a lack of amino acids by activating a transcriptional program with the transcription factor ATF4 as one of the main actors. When cells are faced with cytoplasmic proteotoxic stress, a quite different transcriptional response is mounted, the heat shock response, which is mediated by HSF1. Here, we show that amino acid deprivation results in the inactivation of HSF1. In amino acid deprived cells, active HSF1 loses its DNA binding activity as demonstrated by EMSA and ChIP. A sharp decrease in the transcript level of HSF1 target genes such as HSPA1A (Hsp70), DNAJB1 (Hsp40), and HSP90AA1 is also seen. HSPA1A mRNA, but not DNAJB1 mRNA, was also destabilized. In cells cultured with limiting leucine, HSF1 activity also declined. Lack of amino acids thus could lead to a lower chaperoning capacity and cellular frailty. We show that the nutrient sensing response unit of the ASNS gene contains an HSF1 binding site, but we could not detect binding of HSF1 to this site in vivo. Expression of either an HSF1 mutant lacking the activation domain (HSF379) or an HSF1 mutant unable to bind DNA (K80Q) had only a minor effect on the transcript levels of amino acid deprivation responsive genes. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12192-012-0347-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.