Multisite phosphorylation dictates selective E2-E3 pairing as revealed by Ubc8/UBE2H-GID/CTLH assemblies

Ubiquitylation is catalyzed by coordinated actions of E3 and E2 enzymes. Molecular principles governing many important E3-E2 partnerships remain unknown, including those for RING-family GID/CTLH E3 ubiquitin ligases and their dedicated E2, Ubc8/UBE2H (yeast/human nomenclature). GID/CTLH-Ubc8/UBE2H-mediated ubiquitylation regulates biological processes ranging from yeast metabolic signaling to human development. Here, cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM), biochemistry, and cell biology reveal this exquisitely specific E3-E2 pairing through an unconventional catalytic assembly and auxiliary interactions 70-100 Å away, mediated by E2 multisite phosphorylation. Rather than dynamic polyelectrostatic interactions reported for other ubiquitylation complexes, multiple Ubc8/UBE2H phosphorylation sites within acidic CK2-targeted sequences specifically anchor the E2 C termini to E3 basic patches. Positions of phospho-dependent interactions relative to the catalytic domains correlate across evolution. Overall, our data show that phosphorylation-dependent multivalency establishes a specific E3-E2 partnership, is antagonistic with dephosphorylation, rigidifies the catalytic centers within a flexing GID E3-substrate assembly, and facilitates substrate collision with ubiquitylation active sites.

A GID E3 ligase assembly ubiquitinates an Rsp5 E3 adaptor and regulates plasma membrane transporters

Cells rapidly remodel their proteomes to align their cellular metabolism to environmental conditions. Ubiquitin E3 ligases enable this response, by facilitating rapid and reversible changes to protein stability, localization, or interaction partners. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the GID E3 ligase regulates the switch from gluconeogenic to glycolytic conditions through induction and incorporation of the substrate receptor subunit Gid4, which promotes the degradation of gluconeogenic enzymes. Here, we show an alternative substrate receptor, Gid10, which is induced in response to changes in temperature, osmolarity, and nutrient availability, regulates the ART‐Rsp5 ubiquitin ligase pathway, a component of plasma membrane quality control. Proteomic studies reveal that the levels of the adaptor protein Art2 are elevated upon GID10 deletion. A crystal structure shows the basis for Gid10‐Art2 interactions, and we demonstrate that Gid10 directs a GID E3 ligase complex to ubiquitinate Art2. Our data suggest that the GID E3 ligase affects Art2‐dependent amino acid transport. This study reveals GID as a system of E3 ligases with metabolic regulatory functions outside of glycolysis and gluconeogenesis, controlled by distinct stress‐specific substrate receptors.

GID E3 ligase supramolecular chelate assembly configures multipronged ubiquitin targeting of an oligomeric metabolic enzyme

How are E3 ubiquitin ligases configured to match substrate quaternary structures? Here, by studying the yeast GID complex (mutation of which causes deficiency in glucose-induced degradation of gluconeogenic enzymes), we discover supramolecular chelate assembly as an E3 ligase strategy for targeting an oligomeric substrate. Cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures show that, to bind the tetrameric substrate fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (Fbp1), two minimally functional GID E3s assemble into the 20-protein Chelator-GIDSR4, which resembles an organometallic supramolecular chelate. The Chelator-GIDSR4 assembly avidly binds multiple Fbp1 degrons so that multiple Fbp1 protomers are simultaneously ubiquitylated at lysines near the allosteric and substrate binding sites. Importantly, key structural and biochemical features, including capacity for supramolecular assembly, are preserved in the human ortholog, the CTLH E3. Based on our integrative structural, biochemical, and cell biological data, we propose that higher-order E3 ligase assembly generally enables multipronged targeting, capable of simultaneously incapacitating multiple protomers and functionalities of oligomeric substrates.

DIA-based systems biology approach unveils E3 ubiquitin ligase-dependent responses to a metabolic shift

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a powerful model system for systems-wide biology screens and large-scale proteomics methods. Nearly complete proteomics coverage has been achieved owing to advances in mass spectrometry. However, it remains challenging to scale this technology for rapid and high-throughput analysis of the yeast proteome to investigate biological pathways on a global scale. Here we describe a systems biology workflow employing plate-based sample preparation and rapid, single-run, data-independent mass spectrometry analysis (DIA). Our approach is straightforward, easy to implement, and enables quantitative profiling and comparisons of hundreds of nearly complete yeast proteomes in only a few days. We evaluate its capability by characterizing changes in the yeast proteome in response to environmental perturbations, identifying distinct responses to each of them and providing a comprehensive resource of these responses. Apart from rapidly recapitulating previously observed responses, we characterized carbon source-dependent regulation of the GID E3 ligase, an important regulator of cellular metabolism during the switch between gluconeogenic and glycolytic growth conditions. This unveiled regulatory targets of the GID ligase during a metabolic switch. Our comprehensive yeast system readout pinpointed effects of a single deletion or point mutation in the GID complex on the global proteome, allowing the identification and validation of targets of the GID E3 ligase. Moreover, this approach allowed the identification of targets from multiple cellular pathways that display distinct patterns of regulation. Although developed in yeast, rapid whole-proteome-based readouts can serve as comprehensive systems-level assays in all cellular systems.

Digesting cytotoxic stressors - an unconventional mechanism to induce autophagy

Autophagy is an essential and fundamental pathway that clears unwanted or damaged material from the cell. Initiation of autophagy was previously shown to be dependent on the Ulk1/2 kinase complex. In this issue of The FEBS Journal, Braden and Neufeld investigated the Ulk3 homolog in Drosophila, and proposed a novel, Ulk1/2 independent pathway for autophagy initiation.

Spatial quality control bypasses cell-based limitations on proteostasis to promote prion curing

The proteostasis network has evolved to support protein folding under normal conditions and to expand this capacity in response to proteotoxic stresses. Nevertheless, many pathogenic states are associated with protein misfolding, revealing in vivo limitations on quality control mechanisms. One contributor to these limitations is the physical characteristics of misfolded proteins, as exemplified by amyloids, which are largely resistant to clearance. However, other limitations imposed by the cellular environment are poorly understood. To identify cell-based restrictions on proteostasis capacity, we determined the mechanism by which thermal stress cures the [PSI(+)]/Sup35 prion. Remarkably, Sup35 amyloid is disassembled at elevated temperatures by the molecular chaperone Hsp104. This process requires Hsp104 engagement with heat-induced non-prion aggregates in late cell-cycle stage cells, which promotes its asymmetric retention and thereby effective activity. Thus, cell division imposes a potent limitation on proteostasis capacity that can be bypassed by the spatial engagement of a quality control factor.