Plasma membrane lipid composition must be maintained during growth and under environmental insult. In yeast, signaling mediated by TOR Complex 2 (TORC2)-dependent protein kinase Ypk1 controls lipid abundance and distribution in response to membrane stress. Ypk1, among other actions, alleviates negative regulation of L-serine:palmitoyl-CoA acyltransferase, upregulating production of long-chain base precursors to sphingolipids. To explore other roles for TORC2-Ypk1 signaling in membrane homeostasis, we devised a three-tiered genome-wide screen to identify additional Ypk1 substrates, which pinpointed both catalytic subunits of the ceramide synthase complex. Ypk1-dependent phosphorylation of both proteins increased upon either sphingolipid depletion or heat shock and was important for cell survival. Sphingolipidomics, other biochemical measurements and genetic analysis demonstrated that these modifications of ceramide synthase increased its specific activity and stimulated channeling of long-chain base precursors into sphingolipid end-products. Control at this branch point also prevents accumulation of intermediates that could compromise cell growth by stimulating autophagy.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.03779.001

Glial support is critical for normal axon function and can become dysregulated in white matter (WM) disease. In humans, loss-of-function mutations of KCNJ10, which encodes the inward-rectifying potassium channel KIR4.1, causes seizures and progressive neurological decline. We investigated Kir4.1 functions in oligodendrocytes (OLs) during development, adulthood and after WM injury. We observed that Kir4.1 channels localized to perinodal areas and the inner myelin tongue, suggesting roles in juxta-axonal K+ removal. Conditional knockout (cKO) of OL-Kcnj10 resulted in late onset mitochondrial damage and axonal degeneration. This was accompanied by neuronal loss and neuro-axonal dysfunction in adult OL-Kcnj10 cKO mice as shown by delayed visual evoked potentials, inner retinal thinning and progressive motor deficits. Axon pathologies in OL-Kcnj10 cKO were exacerbated after WM injury in the spinal cord. Our findings point towards a critical role of OL-Kir4.1 for long-term maintenance of axonal function and integrity during adulthood and after WM injury.

In eukaryotes, exposure to hypertonic conditions activates a MAPK (Hog1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and ortholog p38 in human cells). In yeast, intracellular glycerol accumulates to counterbalance the high external osmolarity. To prevent glycerol efflux, Hog1 action impedes the function of the aquaglyceroporin Fps1, in part, by displacing channel co-activators (Rgc1/2). However, Fps1 closes upon hyperosmotic shock even in hog1∆ cells, indicating another mechanism to prevent Fps1-mediated glycerol efflux. In our prior proteome-wide screen, Fps1 was identified as a target of TORC2-dependent protein kinase Ypk1 (Muir et al., 2014). We show here that Fps1 is an authentic Ypk1 substrate and that the open channel state of Fps1 requires phosphorylation by Ypk1. Moreover, hyperosmotic conditions block TORC2-dependent Ypk1-mediated Fps1 phosphorylation, causing channel closure, glycerol accumulation, and enhanced survival under hyperosmotic stress. These events are all Hog1-independent. Our findings define the underlying molecular basis of a new mechanism for responding to hypertonic conditions.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09336.001

Many biomarkers in clinical neuroscience lack pathological certification. This issue is potentially a significant contributor to the limited success of neuroprotective and neurorestorative therapies for human neurological disease – and is evident even in areas with therapeutic promise such as myelin repair. Despite the identification of promising remyelinating candidates, biologically validated methods to demonstrate therapeutic efficacy or provide robust preclinical evidence of remyelination in the central nervous system are lacking. Therapies with potential to remyelinate the central nervous system constitute one of the most promising and highly anticipated therapeutic developments in the pipeline to treat multiple sclerosis and other demyelinating diseases. The optic nerve has been proposed as an informative pathway to monitor remyelination in animals and human subjects. Recent clinical trials using visual evoked potential (VEP) have had promising results, but without unequivocal evidence about the cellular and molecular basis for signal changes on VEP, the interpretation of these trials is constrained. The VEP was originally developed and utilized in the clinic as a diagnostic tool but its use as a quantitative method for assessing therapeutic response requires certification of its biological specificity. Here, using the tools of experimental pathology we demonstrate that quantitative measurements of myelination using both histopathological measures of nodal structure and ultrastructural assessments correspond to VEP latency in both inflammatory and chemical models of demyelination. VEP latency improves after treatment with a tool remyelinating compound (clemastine), mirroring both quantitative and qualitative myelin assessment. Furthermore, clemastine does not improve VEP latency following demyelinating injury when administered to a transgenic animal incapable of forming new myelin. Therefore, using the capacity for therapeutic enhancement and biological loss of function we demonstrate conclusively that VEP measures myelin status and is thereby a validated tool for preclinical verification of remyelination.

Figure 7. CSLO image processing for the morphological analysis of innate immune cells. The image preparation on ImageJ includes background subtraction (-50 px), contrast enhancement (saturated pixels 1%), and Z-stacking after image alignment. Then, a sample area of 350 px (red circle) in the vicinity of the optic nerve head is selected, and the number of cells are measured (somata areas are not shown).