A cellular defense mechanism counteracts the deleterious effects of misfolded protein accumulation by eliciting a stress response. The cytoplasmic deacetylase HDAC6 (histone deacetylase 6) was previously shown to be a key element in this response by coordinating the clearance of protein aggregates through aggresome formation and their autophagic degradation. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate that HDAC6 is involved in another crucial cell response to the accumulation of ubiquitinated protein aggregates, and unravel its molecular basis. Indeed, our data show that HDAC6 senses ubiquitinated cellular aggregates and consequently induces the expression of major cellular chaperones by triggering the dissociation of a repressive HDAC6/HSF1 (heat-shock factor 1)/HSP90 (heat-shock protein 90) complex and a subsequent HSF1 activation. HDAC6 therefore appears as a master regulator of the cell protective response to cytotoxic protein aggregate formation.[Keywords: HSP25/27; HSP70; acetylation; microtubules; heat shock; p97/VCP] Supplemental material is available at http://www.genesdev.org.

Osteoclast maturation is accompanied by changes in podosome patterning, resulting in the formation of a peripheral belt, which requires an intact microtubule network. Here, we report that by inhibiting Rho, the podosome belt is maintained at the cell periphery despite depolymerisation of microtubules by nocodazole. Rho inhibition was correlated to the increase in microtubule stabilisation and microtubule acetylation. By microinjecting activated Rho or its activated effector mDia2 in osteoclasts, we found that the podosome belt was disrupted and the level of microtubule acetylation dramatically decreased. We further characterised the molecular mechanism responsible for microtubule deacetylation by co-immunoprecipitation experiments. We found that not only was mDia2 coprecipitating with the recently identified microtubule deacetylase HDAC6 but that it also activated the microtubule deacetylase activity of HDAC6 in an in vitro deacetylase assay. Finally, we found that during osteoclastogenesis, there is a correlation between the increase in microtubule acetylation and the podosome belt stabilisation and that if Rho is inhibited in the early stages of osteoclast differentiation, it accelerates both microtubule acetylation and podosome belt stabilisation. Altogether, our data reveal a pathway in which Rho interferes with the osteoclast maturation process by controlling the level of microtubule acetylation and actin organisation through mDIA2 and HDAC6.

HDAC6 is a unique cytoplasmic deacetylase capable of interacting with ubiquitin. Using a combination of biophysical, biochemical and biological approaches, we have characterized the ubiquitin-binding domain of HDAC6, named ZnF-UBP, and investigated its biological functions. These studies show that the three Zn ion-containing HDAC6 ZnF-UBP domain presents the highest known affinity for ubiquitin monomers and mediates the ability of HDAC6 to negatively control the cellular polyubiquitin chain turnover. We further show that HDAC6-interacting chaperone, p97/VCP, dissociates the HDAC6-ubiquitin complexes and counteracts the ability of HDAC6 to promote the accumulation of polyubiquitinated proteins. We propose that a finely tuned balance of HDAC6 and p97/VCP concentrations determines the fate of ubiquitinated misfolded proteins: p97/VCP would promote protein degradation and ubiquitin turnover, whereas HDAC6 would favour the accumulation of ubiquitinated protein aggregates and inclusion body formation.