Lgl reduces endosomal vesicle acidification and Notch signaling by promoting the interaction between Vap33 and the V-ATPase complex

Epithelial cell polarity is linked to the control of tissue growth and tumorigenesis. The tumor suppressor and cell polarity protein lethal-2-giant larvae (Lgl) promotes Hippo signaling and inhibits Notch signaling to restrict tissue growth in Drosophila melanogaster. Notch signaling is greater in lgl mutant tissue than in wild-type tissue because of increased acidification of endosomal vesicles, which promotes the proteolytic processing and activation of Notch by γ-secretase. We showed that the increased Notch signaling and tissue growth defects of lgl mutant tissue depended on endosomal vesicle acidification mediated by the vacuolar adenosine triphosphatase (V-ATPase). Lgl promoted the activity of the V-ATPase by interacting with Vap33 (VAMP-associated protein of 33 kDa). Vap33 physically and genetically interacted with Lgl and V-ATPase subunits and repressed V-ATPase-mediated endosomal vesicle acidification and Notch signaling. Vap33 overexpression reduced the abundance of the V-ATPase component Vha44, whereas Lgl knockdown reduced the binding of Vap33 to the V-ATPase component Vha68-3. Our data indicate that Lgl promotes the binding of Vap33 to the V-ATPase, thus inhibiting V-ATPase-mediated endosomal vesicle acidification and thereby reducing γ-secretase activity, Notch signaling, and tissue growth. Our findings implicate the deregulation of Vap33 and V-ATPase activity in polarity-impaired epithelial cancers.