Proteasome activity maintains cell-type-specific gene expression

Regulated proteolysis in eukaryotes relies on the ubiquitin-proteasome system, which is critical to myriad cellular functions, including protein quality control, cell cycle regulation, and DNA repair. Here, we provide evidence that proteasome activity is also essential for maintaining cell identity. This finding was made by evaluating the impact of losing the ubiquitin-binding activity of proteasome substrate receptor hRpn10/PSMD4. The most dysregulated proteins in cells that express hRpn10 truncated before its ubiquitin interaction motifs (hRpn10^VWA) are transcriptionally altered, with striking overrepresentation of proteins canonically restricted in expression to specific tissues. This dysregulation is partly driven by the accumulation of the proteasome substrate and deubiquitinase OTUD5, a known chromatin and transcriptional regulator. Our results thus identify proteasome-dependent mechanisms to safeguard cell-type-specific gene expression programs and expand proteasome biology to include governance of cell identity.