Par-1 Regulates Tissue Growth by Influencing Hippo Phosphorylation Status and Hippo-Salvador Association

Abstract

Par-1 regulates the Hippo signaling pathway in Drosophila melanogaster by modifying the phosphorylation status of Hippo and also by inhibiting the interaction of Hippo and Salvador.

Abstract

The evolutionarily conserved Hippo (Hpo) signaling pathway plays a pivotal role in organ size control by balancing cell proliferation and cell death. Here, we reported the identification of Par-1 as a regulator of the Hpo signaling pathway using a gain-of-function EP screen in Drosophila melanogaster. Overexpression of Par-1 elevated Yorkie activity, resulting in increased Hpo target gene expression and tissue overgrowth, while loss of Par-1 diminished Hpo target gene expression and reduced organ size. We demonstrated that par-1 functioned downstream of fat and expanded and upstream of hpo and salvador ( sav). In addition, we also found that Par-1 physically interacted with Hpo and Sav and regulated the phosphorylation of Hpo at Ser30 to restrict its activity. Par-1 also inhibited the association of Hpo and Sav, resulting in Sav dephosphorylation and destabilization. Furthermore, we provided evidence that Par-1-induced Hpo regulation is conserved in mammalian cells. Taken together, our findings identified Par-1 as a novel component of the Hpo signaling network.

Author Summary

An organism's organ size is determined by cell number, the size of each cell, and the distance between cells. All of these factors are controlled by the coordination of different cell signaling pathways and other mechanisms. The Hippo signaling pathway controls organ size by restricting the number of cells that make up the organ. Malfunction of this pathway leads to abnormal overgrowth, and is involved in a large number of human diseases and cancers. We identify here a component of the Hippo pathway, Par-1, which controls tissue growth by negatively regulating the Hippo pathway. We show that overexpression or depletion of Par-1 influences tissue growth in fruit flies via Hippo signaling. Then, by genetic and biochemical experiments, we show that Par-1 interacts with Hippo, regulating the Hippo Ser30 phosphorylation status to alter Hippo activity. In addition, we found that Par-1 regulates Hippo signaling via inhibition of the Hippo-Salvador association in a kinase-dependent fashion. We predict that Par-1 is a potential oncogene and that its regulatory role in Hippo signaling could be conserved.