Ribosomal protein RPL11 haploinsufficiency causes anemia in mice via activation of the RP-MDM2-p53 pathway

Recent discovery of the ribosomal protein (RP) RPL11 interacting with and inhibiting the E3 ubiquitin ligase function of MDM2 established the RP-MDM2-p53 signaling pathway, which is linked to biological events, including ribosomal biogenesis, nutrient availability, and metabolic homeostasis. Mutations in RPs lead to a diverse array of phenotypes known as ribosomopathies in which the role of p53 is implicated. Here, we generated conditional RPL11-deletion mice to investigate in vivo effects of impaired RP expression and its functional connection with p53. While deletion of one Rpl11 allele in germ cells results in embryonic lethality, deletion of one Rpl11 allele in adult mice does not affect viability but leads to acute anemia. Mechanistically, we found RPL11 haploinsufficiency activates p53 in hematopoietic tissues and impedes erythroid precursor differentiation, resulting in insufficient red blood cell development. We demonstrated that reducing p53 dosage by deleting one p53 allele rescues RPL11 haploinsufficiency-induced inhibition of erythropoietic precursor differentiation and restores normal red blood cell levels in mice. Furthermore, blocking the RP-MDM2-p53 pathway by introducing an RP-binding mutation in MDM2 prevents RPL11 haploinsufficiency–caused p53 activation and rescues the anemia in mice. Together, these findings demonstrate that the RP-MDM2-p53 pathway is a critical checkpoint for RP homeostasis and that p53-dependent cell cycle arrest of erythroid precursors is the molecular basis for the anemia phenotype commonly associated with RP deficiency.