TY - JOUR A1 - Wiederstein, Janica Lea A1 - Nolte, Hendrik A1 - Günther, Stefan A1 - Piller, Tanja A1 - Baraldo, Martina A1 - Kostin, Sawa A1 - Bloch, Wilhelm A1 - Schindler, Natalie A1 - Sandri, Marco A1 - Blaauw, Bert A1 - Braun, Thomas A1 - Hölper, Soraya A1 - Krüger, Marcus T1 - Skeletal muscle-specific methyltransferase METTL21C trimethylates p97 and regulates autophagy-associated protein breakdown T2 - Cell reports N2 - Protein aggregates and cytoplasmic vacuolization are major hallmarks of multisystem proteinopathies (MSPs) that lead to muscle weakness. Here, we identify METTL21C as a skeletal muscle-specific lysine methyltransferase. Insertion of a β-galactosidase cassette into the Mettl21c mouse locus revealed that METTL21C is specifically expressed in MYH7-positive skeletal muscle fibers. Ablation of the Mettl21c gene reduced endurance capacity and led to age-dependent accumulation of autophagic vacuoles in skeletal muscle. Denervation-induced muscle atrophy highlighted further impairments of autophagy-related proteins, including LC3, p62, and cathepsins, in Mettl21c−/− muscles. In addition, we demonstrate that METTL21C interacts with the ATPase p97 (VCP), which is mutated in various human MSP conditions. We reveal that METTL21C trimethylates p97 on the Lys315 residue and found that loss of this modification reduced p97 hexamer formation and ATPase activity in vivo. We conclude that the methyltransferase METTL21C is an important modulator of protein degradation in skeletal muscle under both normal and enhanced protein breakdown conditions. KW - atrophy KW - autophagy KW - methyltransferases KW - p97 KW - skeletal muscle Y1 - 2018 UR - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/51114 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-511143 SN - 2211-1247 N1 - This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). VL - 23 IS - 5 SP - 1342 EP - 1356 PB - Cell Press ; Elsevier CY - Maryland Heights, MO ; [New York, NY] ER -