NudCL2 regulates cell migration by stabilizing both myosin-9 and LIS1 with Hsp90

Cell migration plays pivotal roles in many biological processes; however, its underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we find that NudC-like protein 2 (NudCL2), a cochaperone of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), modulates cell migration by stabilizing both myosin-9 and lissencephaly protein 1 (LIS1). Either knockdown or knockout of NudCL2 significantly increases single-cell migration, but has no significant effect on collective cell migration. Immunoprecipitation–mass spectrometry and western blotting analyses reveal that NudCL2 binds to myosin-9 in mammalian cells. Depletion of NudCL2 not only decreases myosin-9 protein levels, but also results in actin disorganization. Ectopic expression of myosin-9 efficiently reverses defects in actin disorganization and single-cell migration in cells depleted of NudCL2. Interestingly, knockdown of myosin-9 increases both single and collective cell migration. Depletion of LIS1, a NudCL2 client protein, suppresses both single and collective cell migration, which exhibits the opposite effect compared with myosin-9 depletion. Co-depletion of myosin-9 and LIS1 promotes single-cell migration, resembling the phenotype caused by NudCL2 depletion. Furthermore, inhibition of Hsp90 ATPase activity also reduces the Hsp90-interacting protein myosin-9 stability and increases single-cell migration. Forced expression of Hsp90 efficiently reverses myosin-9 protein instability and the defects induced by NudCL2 depletion, but not vice versa. Taken together, these data suggest that NudCL2 plays an important role in the precise regulation of cell migration by stabilizing both myosin-9 and LIS1 via Hsp90 pathway.