JNK regulates FoxO-dependent autophagy in neurons
- 1Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA;
- 2Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA
Abstract
The cJun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signal transduction pathway is implicated in the regulation of neuronal function. JNK is encoded by three genes that play partially redundant roles. Here we report the creation of mice with targeted ablation of all three Jnk genes in neurons. Compound JNK-deficient neurons are dependent on autophagy for survival. This autophagic response is caused by FoxO-induced expression of Bnip3 that displaces the autophagic effector Beclin-1 from inactive Bcl-XL complexes. These data identify JNK as a potent negative regulator of FoxO-dependent autophagy in neurons.
Keywords
Footnotes
-
↵3 Corresponding author.
E-MAIL roger.davis{at}umassmed.edu; FAX (508) 856-3210.
-
Article is online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.1984311.
-
Supplemental material is available for this article.
- Received August 19, 2010.
- Accepted January 6, 2011.
- Copyright © 2011 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
Freely available online through the Genes & Development Open Access option.
