The ciliary protein RPGRIP1L governs autophagy independently of its proteasome-regulating function at the ciliary base in mouse embryonic fibroblasts.

Previously, macroautophagy/autophagy was demonstrated to be regulated inter alia by the primary cilium. Mutations in RPGRIP1L cause ciliary dysfunctions resulting in severe human diseases summarized as ciliopathies. Recently, we showed that RPGRIP1L deficiency leads to a decreased proteasomal activity at the ciliary base in mice. Importantly, the drug-induced restoration of proteasomal activity does not rescue ciliary length alterations in the absence of RPGRIP1L indicating that RPGRIP1L affects ciliary function also via other mechanisms. Based on this knowledge, we analyzed autophagy in Rpgrip1l-negative mouse embryos. In these embryos, autophagic activity was decreased due to an increased activation of the MTOR complex 1 (MTORC1). Application of the MTORC1 inhibitor rapamycin rescued dysregulated MTORC1, autophagic activity and cilia length but not proteasomal activity in Rpgrip1l-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts demonstrating that RPGRIP1L seems to regulate autophagic and proteasomal activity independently from each other.