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  2. Nuclear GTPSCS functions as a lactyl-CoA synthetase to promote histone lactylation and gliomagenesis

Nuclear GTPSCS functions as a lactyl-CoA synthetase to promote histone lactylation and gliomagenesis

  • Cell Metab. 2025 Feb 4;37(2):377-394.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2024.11.005.
Ruilong Liu 1 Xuelian Ren 2 Yae Eun Park 3 Huixu Feng 4 Xinlei Sheng 3 Xiaohan Song 5 Roya AminiTabrizi 6 Hardik Shah 6 Lingting Li 7 Yu Zhang 7 Kalil G Abdullah 8 Sarah Dubois-Coyne 9 Hening Lin 10 Philip A Cole 9 Ralph J DeBerardinis 11 Samuel K McBrayer 12 He Huang 13 Yingming Zhao 14
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China; Ben May Department for Cancer Research, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
  • 2 State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China; School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou 310024, China.
  • 3 Ben May Department for Cancer Research, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
  • 4 State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China.
  • 5 School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou 310024, China.
  • 6 Biological Science Division, Metabolomics Platform, Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
  • 7 Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200032, China.
  • 8 Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; Hillman Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA.
  • 9 Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
  • 10 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
  • 11 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA; Children's Medical Center Research Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
  • 12 Children's Medical Center Research Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
  • 13 State Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China; School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou 310024, China. Electronic address: hhuang@simm.ac.cn.
  • 14 Ben May Department for Cancer Research, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Electronic address: yingming.zhao@uchicago.edu.
Abstract

Histone lysine lactylation is a physiologically and pathologically relevant epigenetic pathway that can be stimulated by the Warburg effect-associated L-lactate. Nevertheless, the mechanism by which cells use L-lactate to generate lactyl-coenzyme A (CoA) and how this process is regulated remains unknown. Here, we report the identification of guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-specific SCS (GTPSCS) as a lactyl-CoA synthetase in the nucleus. The mechanism was elucidated through the crystallographic structure of GTPSCS in complex with L-lactate, followed by mutagenesis experiments. GTPSCS translocates into the nucleus and interacts with p300 to elevate histone lactylation but not succinylation. This process depends on a nuclear localization signal in the GTPSCS G1 subunit and acetylation at G2 subunit residue K73, which mediates the interaction with p300. GTPSCS/p300 collaboration synergistically regulates histone H3K18la and GDF15 expression, promoting glioma proliferation and radioresistance. GTPSCS represents the inaugural Enzyme to catalyze lactyl-CoA synthesis for epigenetic histone lactylation and regulate oncogenic gene expression in glioma.

Keywords

GDF15; histone marks; hypoxia; lactyl-CoA; lactyl-CoA synthetase; lactylation; p300; succinyl-CoA synthetase; the Warburg effect; tumorigenesis.

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