Processing of the Drosophila hedgehog signalling effector Ci-155 to receptor Ci-75 is mediated by direct binding to the SCF component slimb

Signaling by extracellular Hedgehog (Hh) molecules is crucial for the correct allocation of cell fates and patterns of cell proliferation in humans and other organisms [1, 2]. Responses to Hh are universally mediated by regulating the activity and the proteolysis of the Gli family of transcriptional activators such that they induce target genes only in the presence of Hh [1, 3]. In the absence of Hh, the sole Drosophila Gli homolog, Cubitus interruptus (Cl), undergoes partial proteolysis to Ci-75, which represses key Hh target genes [4]. This processing requires phosphorylation of full-length Ci (Ci-155) by protein kinase A (PKA), casein kinase 1 (CK1), and glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3), as well as the activity of Slimb [5-7]. Slimb is homologous to vertebrate beta-TRCP1, which binds as part of an SCF (Skp2/Cullin1/F-box) complex to a defined phospho-peptide motif to target proteins for ubiquitination and subsequent proteolysis [8-10]. Here, we show that phosphorylation of Ci at the specific PKA, GSK-3, and CK1 sites required in vivo for partial proteolysis stimulates binding to Slimb in vitro. Furthermore, a consensus Slimb/beta-TRCP1 binding site from another protein can substitute for phosphorylated residues of Ci-155 to direct conversion to Ci-75 in vivo. From this, we conclude that Slimb binds directly to phosphorylated Ci-155 to initiate processing to Ci-75. We also explore the phosphorylated motifs in Ci that are recognized by Slimb and provide some evidence that silencing of Ci-155 by phosphorylation may involve more than binding to Slimb.