Project description:TP53 deficiency is the most common alteration in cancer; however, this alone is typically insufficient to drive tumorigenesis. To identify genes promoting tumorigenesis in combination with TP53 deficiency, we perform genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 knockout screens coupled with proliferation and transformation assays in isogenic cell lines. Loss of several known tumor suppressors enhances cellular proliferation and transformation. Loss of neddylation pathway genes promotes uncontrolled proliferation exclusively in TP53-deficient cells. Combined loss of CUL3 and TP53 activates an oncogenic transcriptional program governed by the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), AP-1, and transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) pathways. This program maintains persistent cellular proliferation, induces partial epithelial to mesenchymal transition, and increases DNA damage, genomic instability, and chromosomal rearrangements. Our findings reveal CUL3 loss as a key event stimulating persistent proliferation in TP53-deficient cells. These findings may be clinically relevant, since TP53-CUL3-deficient cells are highly sensitive to ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) inhibition, exposing a vulnerability that could be exploited for cancer treatment.
Project description:The large family of SCF ubiquitin ligases catalyze ubiquitylation by bridging protein substrates and ubiquitin-modifying enzymes. S. cerevisiae SCFs employ a sole, essential enzyme, Cdc34, to build poly-ubiquitin chains required for degradation. However, humans have no less than six chain building enzymes associated with SCFs, including the long assumed to be essential Cdc34 orthologs, UBE2R1 and UBE2R2. Furthermore, uncertainty regarding the physiological concentrations of ubiquitin-modifying enzymes has hindered in vitro mechanistic work. Proteomics was used to estimate enzyme levels in cells, and ubiquitylation assays were employed to quantitatively compare enzyme activities. The results show that UBE2R2 alone has negligible ubiquitylation activity at physiological concentrations, and the ablation of UBE2R1/2 had no effect on the stability of SCF substrates in cells. A genome-wide CRISPR screen revealed that UBE2G1 buffers against the deletion of UBE2R1/2. UBE2G1 had robust in vitro activity with SCF, and UBE2G1 knockdown in cells lacking UBE2R1/2 resulted in stabilization of the SCF substrate p27 as well as the Cul3-RING ligase substrate NRF2. The results reveal the human SCF enzyme system is heavily buffered and suggest that SCF specificity is diversified by association with multiple enzyme partners.
Project description:Cullin-RING ligases (CRLs) are a significant subset of Ubiquitin E3 ligases that regulate multiple cellular substrates involved in innate immunity, cytoskeleton modeling, and cell cycle. The glutamine deamidase Cycle inhibitory factor (Cif) from enteric bacteria inactivates CRLs to modulate these processes in the host cell. The covalent attachment of a Ubiquitin-like protein NEDD8 catalytically activates CRLs by driving conformational changes in the Cullin C-terminal domain (CTD). NEDDylation results in a shift from a compact to an open CTD conformation through non-covalent interactions between NEDD8 and the WHB subdomain of CTD, eliminating the latter's inhibitory interactions with the RING E3 ligase-Rbx1/2. It is unknown whether the non-covalent interactions are sufficient to stabilize Cullin CTD's catalytic conformation. We studied the dynamics of Cullin-CTD in the presence and absence of NEDD8 using atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We uncovered that NEDD8 engages in non-covalent interactions with 4HB/αβ subdomains in Cullin-CTD to promote open conformations. Cif deamidates glutamine 40 in NEDD8 to inhibit the conformational change in CRLs by an unknown mechanism. We investigated the effect of glutamine deamidation on NEDD8 and its interaction with the WHB subdomain post-NEDDylation using MD simulations and NMR spectroscopy. Our results suggest that deamidation creates a new intramolecular salt bridge in NEDD8 to destabilize the NEDD8/WHB complex and reduce CRL activity.
Project description:Cullin-RING ligases (CRLs) represent the largest E3 ubiquitin ligase family in eukaryotes, and the identification of their substrates is critical to understanding regulation of the proteome. Using genetic and pharmacologic Cullin inactivation coupled with genetic (GPS) and proteomic (QUAINT) assays, we have identified hundreds of proteins whose stabilities or ubiquitylation status are regulated by CRLs. Together, these approaches yielded many known CRL substrates as well as a multitude of previously unknown putative substrates. We demonstrate that one substrate, NUSAP1, is an SCF(Cyclin F) substrate during S and G2 phases of the cell cycle and is also degraded in response to DNA damage. This collection of regulated substrates is highly enriched for nodes in protein interaction networks, representing critical connections between regulatory pathways. This demonstrates the broad role of CRL ubiquitylation in all aspects of cellular biology and provides a set of proteins likely to be key indicators of cellular physiology.
Project description:The cullin-RING E3 ligase (CRL) network comprises over 300 unique complexes that switch from inactive to activated conformations upon site-specific cullin modification by the ubiquitin-like protein NEDD8. Assessing cellular repertoires of activated CRL complexes is critical for understanding eukaryotic regulation. However, probes surveying networks controlled by site-specific ubiquitin-like protein modifications are lacking. We report development of a synthetic antibody recognizing the active conformation of a NEDD8-linked cullin. We established a pipeline probing cellular networks of activated CUL1-, CUL2-, CUL3- and CUL4-containing CRLs, revealing the CRL complexes responding to stimuli. Profiling several cell types showed their baseline neddylated CRL repertoires vary, prime efficiency of targeted protein degradation, and are differentially rewired across distinct primary cell activation pathways. Thus, conformation-specific probes can permit nonenzymatic activity-based profiling across a system of numerous multiprotein complexes, which in the case of neddylated CRLs reveals widespread regulation and could facilitate development of degrader drugs.
Project description:Morphogenesis requires the proper migration and positioning of different cell types in the embryo. Much more is known about how cells start and guide their migrations than about how they stop when they reach their destinations. Here we provide evidence that Rbx2, a subunit of the Cullin 5-RING E3 ubiquitin ligase (CRL5) complex, stops neocortical projection neurons at their target layers. Rbx2 mutation causes neocortical and cerebellar ectopias dependent on Dab1, a key signaling protein in the Reelin pathway. SOCS7, a CRL5 substrate adaptor protein, is also required for neocortical layering. SOCS7-CRL5 complexes stimulate the ubiquitylation and turnover of Dab1. SOCS7 is upregulated during projection neuron migration, and unscheduled SOCS7 expression stops migration prematurely. Cerebellar development requires Rbx2 but not SOCS7, pointing to the importance of other CRL5 adaptors. Our results suggest that CRL5 adaptor expression is spatiotemporally regulated to modulate Reelin signaling and ensure normal neuron positioning in the developing brain.
Project description:The AAA+ ATPase p97 and its UBA-UBX cofactors are thought to extract ubiquitinated proteins from membranes or protein complexes as a prelude to their degradation. However, for many cofactors ubiquitinated targets have not yet been identified, leaving their biological function unclear. Previous analysis has linked the p97 pathway to cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases (CRLs); here we demonstrate that the human p97 cofactor UBXD7 mediates the p97-CRL interaction through its conserved ubiquitin-interacting motif (UIM). UBXD7 and its yeast ortholog, Ubx5, associate only with the active, NEDD8- or Rub1-modified form of cullins. Disruption of the Ubx5 UIM results in a loss of CRL binding and consequently impedes degradation of a Cul3 substrate. These results uncover an unexpected and conserved role for NEDD8 in linking CRL ubiquitin ligase function to the p97 pathway.
Project description:Cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligase 4 (CRL4) plays an essential role in cell cycle progression. Recent efforts using high throughput screening and follow up hit-to-lead studies have led to identification of small molecules 33-11 and KH-4-43 that inhibit E3 CRL4's core ligase complex and exhibit anticancer potential. This review provides: 1) an updated perspective of E3 CRL4, including structural organization, major substrate targets and role in cancer; 2) a discussion of the challenges and strategies for finding the CRL inhibitor; and 3) a summary of the properties of the identified CRL4 inhibitors as well as a perspective on their potential utility to probe CRL4 biology and act as therapeutic agents.
Project description:Cullin-RING (really intersting new gene) E3 ubiquitin ligases (CRLs) are the largest E3 family and direct numerous protein substrates for proteasomal degradation, thereby impacting a myriad of physiological and pathological processes including cancer. To date, there are no reported small-molecule inhibitors of the catalytic activity of CRLs. Here, we describe high-throughput screening and medicinal chemistry optimization efforts that led to the identification of two compounds, 33-11 and KH-4-43, which inhibit E3 CRL4 and exhibit antitumor potential. These compounds bind to CRL4's core catalytic complex, inhibit CRL4-mediated ubiquitination, and cause stabilization of CRL4's substrate CDT1 in cells. Treatment with 33-11 or KH-4-43 in a panel of 36 tumor cell lines revealed cytotoxicity. The antitumor activity was validated by the ability of the compounds to suppress the growth of human tumor xenografts in mice. Mechanistically, the compounds' cytotoxicity was linked to aberrant accumulation of CDT1 that is known to trigger apoptosis. Moreover, a subset of tumor cells was found to express cullin4 proteins at levels as much as 70-fold lower than those in other tumor lines. The low-cullin4-expressing tumor cells appeared to exhibit increased sensitivity to 33-11/KH-4-43, raising a provocative hypothesis for the role of low E3 abundance as a cancer vulnerability.
Project description:Neuritogenesis is crucial for establishing proper neuronal connections during brain development; its failure causes neurodevelopmental defects. Cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligase complexes participate in various neurodevelopmental processes by regulating protein stability. We demonstrated the regulatory function of Cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligase 4 (CRL4) in neurite morphogenesis during early neurodevelopment. Cul4a and Cul4b, the core scaffold proteins of CRL4, exhibit high expression and activation within the cytosol of developing neurons, regulated by neuronal stimulation through N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor signaling. CRL4 also interacts with cytoskeleton-regulating proteins involved in neurite morphogenesis. Notably, genetic depletion and inhibition of cytosolic CRL4 enhance neurite extension and branching in developing neurons. Conversely, Cul4a overexpression suppresses basal and NMDA-enhanced neuritogenesis. Furthermore, CRL4 and its substrate adaptor regulate the polyubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of doublecortin protein. Collectively, our findings suggest that CRL4 ensures proper neurite morphogenesis in developing neurons by regulating cytoskeleton-regulating proteins.