Ho-Xuan, H.* ; Bruckmann, A.* ; Natali, L.* ; Prieto-Garcia, C.* ; Stuke, J.F.M.* ; Brunello, L.* ; Vicente, A.B.* ; Pfab, A.* ; Wesseling, H.* ; Cano-Franco, S.* ; Khatri, A.* ; Larivera, S.* ; Sanz-Martinez, P.* ; de la Cruz-Thea, B.* ; Jacomin, A.C.* ; Prochazka, J.* ; Feederle, R. ; Dötsch, V.* ; Sedlacek, R.* ; Hummer, G.* ; Kaiser, S.* ; Dikic, I.* ; Musri, M.M.* ; Meister, G.* ; Stolz, A.*
YTHDF proteins and m6A-RNA clients undergo autophagic turnover during contact inhibition.
Cell Rep. 44:116188 (2025)
The YTHDF protein family plays a critical role in cancer development by recognizing and regulating the stability of N6-methyladenosine (m6A)-modified RNA. Here, we reveal an autophagy-dependent mechanism controlling YTHDF protein levels. Using contact inhibition as a cellular model system, we show YTHDF proteins to be rapidly degraded, coinciding with increased autophagy and decreased mTOR activity. Upon pharmacological mTOR inhibition, YTHDF2 is also downregulated via lysosomal degradation. YTHDF2 selectively interacts with the autophagy modifier GABARAP L2 through LC3-interacting region (LIR) motifs in its unstructured N- and C-terminal regions. Autophagic YTHDF2 downregulation results in the co-degradation of its bound m6A-modified RNA clients. While YTHDF depletion induces cell death in contact-inhibition-deficient HCT116 cancer cells, contact-inhibited MRC5 and RPE1 cells remain unaffected. Our findings uncover a regulatory pathway that governs YTHDF protein stability with significant implications for cancer biology and cell fate determination and suggest the existence of an autophagy-mediated degradation pathway for m6A-modified RNA.
Impact Factor
Scopus SNIP
Web of Science
Times Cited
Scopus
Cited By
Altmetric
Publication type
Article: Journal article
Document type
Scientific Article
Thesis type
Editors
Keywords
Cp: Cell Biology ; Rna Binding ; Ythdf ; Cancer ; Cellular Homeostasis ; Contact Inhibition ; Lysosomal Degradation ; M6a ; Selective Autophagy; Gene-expression; Rna; Phosphorylation; Target
Keywords plus
Language
english
Publication Year
2025
Prepublished in Year
0
HGF-reported in Year
2025
ISSN (print) / ISBN
2211-1247
e-ISSN
2211-1247
ISBN
Book Volume Title
Conference Title
Conference Date
Conference Location
Proceedings Title
Quellenangaben
Volume: 44,
Issue: 9,
Pages: ,
Article Number: 116188
Supplement: ,
Series
Publisher
Cell Press
Publishing Place
50 Hampshire St, Floor 5, Cambridge, Ma 02139 Usa
Day of Oral Examination
0000-00-00
Advisor
Referee
Examiner
Topic
University
University place
Faculty
Publication date
0000-00-00
Application date
0000-00-00
Patent owner
Further owners
Application country
Patent priority
Reviewing status
Peer reviewed
Institute(s)
CF Monoclonal Antibodies (CF-MAB)
POF-Topic(s)
30201 - Metabolic Health
Research field(s)
Helmholtz Diabetes Center
PSP Element(s)
G-502210-001
Grants
Max Planck Society
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)
Bayerische Forschungsstiftung (FORTiTher)
Hessian Ministry for Science and the Arts (HMWK)
Czech Academy of Sciences
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic
Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation
Copyright
Erfassungsdatum
2025-11-19