ERK inhibits Capicua repressor function via multisite phosphorylation

Abstract

The receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway controls cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival. The transcriptional repressor Capicua (Cic) has emerged as a key target for ERK-mediated downregulation in Drosophila and mammals, and mutations in human CIC result in cancer and neurological diseases. Phosphorylation by ERK is critical for Cic downregulation, but the identities of phosphosites in Drosophila Cic are unknown. Here, we identify sites of phosphorylation in Cic that are directly targeted by ERK and validate their developmental functions in vivo using mutant Cic variants. Cic phosphosites are distributed throughout the length of the protein. Cic mutated in 20 high-confidence sites is resistant to proteasomal degradation and behaves as a “super-repressor” in vivo that is largely insensitive to ERK-mediated downregulation. No single site is sufficient to turn off Cic activity; instead, we find that ERK must phosphorylate multiple sites in Cic simultaneously to achieve full downregulation. This multisite phosphorylation likely involves phosphodegrons that are recognized by ubiquitin ligases such as Ago/FBXW7, contributing to Cic degradation. This study advances our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of signal interpretation downstream of the RTK/ERK signaling network.

Key findings

• ▸ERK-mediated phosphorylation occurs at multiple high-confidence sites distributed throughout the length of the Drosophila Cic protein.
• ▸Mutating 20 identified phosphosites renders Cic resistant to proteasomal degradation and creates a 'super-repressor' insensitive to ERK signaling.
• ▸No single phosphorylation site is sufficient to deactivate Cic; multisite phosphorylation is required for complete downregulation.

Keywords

Identifiers

DOI

10.1242/jcs.264327

Journal

Journal of Cell Science

Year

2026