RACK1 modulates polyglutamine-induced neurodegeneration by promoting ERK degradation in Drosophila

Polyglutamine diseases are neurodegenerative diseases caused by the expansion of polyglutamine (polyQ) tracts within different proteins. Although multiple pathways have been found to modulate aggregation of the expanded polyQ proteins, the mechanisms by which polyQ tracts induced neuronal cell death remain unknown. We conducted a genome-wide genetic screen to identify genes that suppress polyQ-induced neurodegeneration when mutated. Loss of the scaffold protein RACK1 alleviated cell death associated with the expression of polyQ tracts alone, as well as in models of Machado-Joseph disease (MJD) and Huntington’s disease (HD), without affecting proteostasis of polyQ proteins. A genome-wide RNAi screen for modifiers of this rack1 suppression phenotype revealed that knockdown of the E3 ubiquitin ligase, POE (Purity of essence), further suppressed polyQ-induced cell death, resulting in nearly wild-type looking eyes. Biochemical analyses demonstrated that RACK1 interacts with POE and ERK to promote ERK degradation. These results suggest that RACK1 plays a key role in polyQ pathogenesis by promoting POE-dependent degradation of ERK, and implicate RACK1/POE/ERK as potent drug targets for treatment of polyQ diseases.