Rag GTPases are cardioprotective by regulating lysosomal function.

Abstract

The Rag family proteins are Ras-like small GTPases that play a critical role in amino acid-stimulated mTORC1 activation by recruiting mTORC1 to lysosome. Despite progress in the mechanistic understanding of Rag GTPases in mTORC1 activation, little is known about the physiological function of Rag GTPases in vivo. Here, we show that loss of RagA and RagB (RagA/B) in cardiomyocytes results in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and phenocopies lysosomal storage diseases although mTORC1 activity is not substantially impaired in vivo. We demonstrate that despite upregulation of lysosomal protein expression by constitutive activation of the transcription factor EB (TFEB) in RagA/B knockout mouse embryonic fibroblasts, lysosomal acidification is compromised due to decreased v-ATPase level in the lysosome fraction. Our study uncovers RagA/B GTPases as key regulators of lysosomal function and cardiac protection.