Rapid and reversible knockdown of endogenous proteins by peptide-directed lysosomal degradation

Rapid and reversible methods for altering the level of endogenous proteins are critically important for studying biological systems and developing therapeutics. Here, we describe a membrane permeable targeting peptide-based method that rapidly and reversibly knocks down endogenous proteins through chaperone-mediated autophagy in vitro and in vivo. We demonstrated the specificity, efficacy and generalizability of the method by showing efficient knockdown of various proteins including death associated protein kinase 1 (160kDa), scaffolding protein PSD-95 (95kDa) and α-synuclein (18kDa) with their respective targeting peptides in a dose-, time- and lysosomal activity-dependent manner in neuronal cultures. More significantly, we showed that when given systemically, the peptide system efficiently knocked down the targeted protein in the brain of intact rats. Our study provides a robust and convenient research tool to manipulate endogenous protein levels, and may also lead to the development of protein knockdown-based novel therapeutics for treating various human diseases.