Deubiquitinase OTUD5 mediates the sequential activation of PDCD5 and p53 in response to genotoxic stress

Programmed cell death 5 (PDCD5) positively regulates p53-mediated apoptosis and rapidly accumulates upon DNA damage. However, the underlying mechanism of PDCD5 upregulation during the DNA damage response remains unknown. Here, we found that OTU deubiquitinase 5 (OTUD5) was bound to PDCD5 in response to etoposide treatment and increased the stability of PDCD5 by mediating deubiquitination of PDCD5 at Lys-97/98. Overexpression of OTUD5 efficiently enhanced the activation of both PDCD5 and p53. Conversely, PDCD5 knockdown greatly attenuated the effect of OTUD5 on p53 activation. In addition, when OTUD5 was depleted, PDCD5 failed to facilitate p53 activation, demonstrating an essential role for the PDCD5-OTUD5 network in p53 activation. Importantly, we found that OTUD5-dependent PDCD5 stabilization was required for sequential activation of p53 in response to genotoxic stress. The sequential activation of PDCD5 and p53 was abrogated by knockdown of OTUD5. Finally, impairment of the genotoxic stress response upon PDCD5 ablation was substantially rescued by reintroducing PDCD5WT but not PDCD5E94D (defective for OTUD5 interaction) or PDCD5E16D (defective for p53 interaction). Together, our findings have uncovered an apoptotic signaling cascade linking PDCD5, OTUD5, and p53 during genotoxic stress responses.