EVI/WLS function is regulated by ubiquitination and linked to ER-associated degradation by ERLIN2

Wnt signalling is important for development in all metazoan animals and associated with various human diseases. The Ubiquitin-Proteasome System (UPS) and regulatory ER-associated degradation (ERAD) has been implicated in the secretion of WNT proteins. Here, we investigated how the WNT secretory factor EVI/WLS is ubiquitinated, recognised by ERAD components, and subsequently removed from the secretory pathway. We performed a focused, immunoblot-based RNAi screen for factors that influence EVI/WLS protein stability. We identified the VCP-binding proteins FAF2 and UBXN4 as novel interaction partners of EVI/WLS and showed that ERLIN2 links EVI/WLS to the ubiquitination machinery. Interestingly, we found in addition that EVI/WLS is ubiquitinated and degraded in cells irrespective of their level of WNT production. K11, K48, and K63-linked ubiquitination is mediated by the E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzymes UBE2J2, UBE2N, and UBE2K, but independent of the E3 ligases HRD1/SYVN. Taken together, our study identified factors that link UPS to the WNT secretory pathway and provides mechanistic details on the fate of an endogenous substrate of regulatory ERAD in mammalian cells.