Near-equilibrium glycolysis supports metabolic homeostasis and energy yield.

Glycolysis plays a central role in producing ATP and biomass. Its control principles, however, remain incompletely understood. Here, we develop a method that combines 2H and 13C tracers to determine glycolytic thermodynamics. Using this method, we show that, in conditions and organisms with relatively slow fluxes, multiple steps in glycolysis are near to equilibrium, reflecting spare enzyme capacity. In Escherichia coli, nitrogen or phosphorus upshift rapidly increases the thermodynamic driving force, deploying the spare enzyme capacity to increase flux. Similarly, respiration inhibition in mammalian cells rapidly increases both glycolytic flux and the thermodynamic driving force. The thermodynamic shift allows flux to increase with only small metabolite concentration changes. Finally, we find that the cellulose-degrading anaerobe Clostridium cellulolyticum exhibits slow, near-equilibrium glycolysis due to the use of pyrophosphate rather than ATP for fructose-bisphosphate production, resulting in enhanced per-glucose ATP yield. Thus, near-equilibrium steps of glycolysis promote both rapid flux adaptation and energy efficiency.

A mechanistic paradigm for broad-spectrum antivirals that target virus-cell fusion.

LJ001 is a lipophilic thiazolidine derivative that inhibits the entry of numerous enveloped viruses at non-cytotoxic concentrations (IC50 ≤ 0.5 µM), and was posited to exploit the physiological difference between static viral membranes and biogenic cellular membranes. We now report on the molecular mechanism that results in LJ001's specific inhibition of virus-cell fusion. The antiviral activity of LJ001 was light-dependent, required the presence of molecular oxygen, and was reversed by singlet oxygen ((1)O2) quenchers, qualifying LJ001 as a type II photosensitizer. Unsaturated phospholipids were the main target modified by LJ001-generated (1)O2. Hydroxylated fatty acid species were detected in model and viral membranes treated with LJ001, but not its inactive molecular analog, LJ025. (1)O2-mediated allylic hydroxylation of unsaturated phospholipids leads to a trans-isomerization of the double bond and concurrent formation of a hydroxyl group in the middle of the hydrophobic lipid bilayer. LJ001-induced (1)O2-mediated lipid oxidation negatively impacts on the biophysical properties of viral membranes (membrane curvature and fluidity) critical for productive virus-cell membrane fusion. LJ001 did not mediate any apparent damage on biogenic cellular membranes, likely due to multiple endogenous cytoprotection mechanisms against phospholipid hydroperoxides. Based on our understanding of LJ001's mechanism of action, we designed a new class of membrane-intercalating photosensitizers to overcome LJ001's limitations for use as an in vivo antiviral agent. Structure activity relationship (SAR) studies led to a novel class of compounds (oxazolidine-2,4-dithiones) with (1) 100-fold improved in vitro potency (IC50<10 nM), (2) red-shifted absorption spectra (for better tissue penetration), (3) increased quantum yield (efficiency of (1)O2 generation), and (4) 10-100-fold improved bioavailability. Candidate compounds in our new series moderately but significantly (p≤0.01) delayed the time to death in a murine lethal challenge model of Rift Valley Fever Virus (RVFV). The viral membrane may be a viable target for broad-spectrum antivirals that target virus-cell fusion.

INTRACELLULAR TRANSPORT. PI4P/phosphatidylserine countertransport at ORP5- and ORP8-mediated ER-plasma membrane contacts.

Lipid transfer between cell membrane bilayers at contacts between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and other membranes help to maintain membrane lipid homeostasis. We found that two similar ER integral membrane proteins, oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP)-related protein 5 (ORP5) and ORP8, tethered the ER to the plasma membrane (PM) via the interaction of their pleckstrin homology domains with phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI4P) in this membrane. Their OSBP-related domains (ORDs) harbored either PI4P or phosphatidylserine (PS) and exchanged these lipids between bilayers. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments showed that ORP5 and ORP8 could mediate PI4P/PS countertransport between the ER and the PM, thus delivering PI4P to the ER-localized PI4P phosphatase Sac1 for degradation and PS from the ER to the PM. This exchange helps to control plasma membrane PI4P levels and selectively enrich PS in the PM.

Co-option of Membrane Wounding Enables Virus Penetration into Cells.

During cell entry, non-enveloped viruses undergo partial uncoating to expose membrane lytic proteins for gaining access to the cytoplasm. We report that adenovirus uses membrane piercing to induce and hijack cellular wound removal processes that facilitate further membrane disruption and infection. Incoming adenovirus stimulates calcium influx and lysosomal exocytosis, a membrane repair mechanism resulting in release of acid sphingomyelinase (ASMase) and degradation of sphingomyelin to ceramide lipids in the plasma membrane. Lysosomal exocytosis is triggered by small plasma membrane lesions induced by the viral membrane lytic protein-VI, which is exposed upon mechanical cues from virus receptors, followed by virus endocytosis into leaky endosomes. Chemical inhibition or RNA interference of ASMase slows virus endocytosis, inhibits virus escape to the cytosol, and reduces infection. Ceramide enhances binding of protein-VI to lipid membranes and protein-VI-induced membrane rupture. Thus, adenovirus uses a positive feedback loop between virus uncoating and lipid signaling for efficient membrane penetration.

Rhinovirus uses a phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate/cholesterol counter-current for the formation of replication compartments at the ER-Golgi interface.

Similar to other positive-strand RNA viruses, rhinovirus, the causative agent of the common cold, replicates on a web of cytoplasmic membranes, orchestrated by host proteins and lipids. The host pathways that facilitate the formation and function of the replication membranes and complexes are poorly understood. We show that rhinovirus replication depends on host factors driving phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI4P)-cholesterol counter-currents at viral replication membranes. Depending on the virus type, replication required phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase class 3beta (PI4K3b), cholesteryl-esterase hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) or oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP)-like 1, 2, 5, 9, or 11 associated with lipid droplets, endosomes, or Golgi. Replication invariably required OSBP1, which shuttles cholesterol and PI4P between ER and Golgi at membrane contact sites. Infection also required ER-associated PI4P phosphatase Sac1 and phosphatidylinositol (PI) transfer protein beta (PITPb) shunting PI between ER-Golgi. These data support a PI4P-cholesterol counter-flux model for rhinovirus replication.

Caveolae regulate the nanoscale organization of the plasma membrane to remotely control Ras signaling.

The molecular mechanisms whereby caveolae exert control over cellular signaling have to date remained elusive. We have therefore explored the role caveolae play in modulating Ras signaling. Lipidomic and gene array analyses revealed that caveolin-1 (CAV1) deficiency results in altered cellular lipid composition, and plasma membrane (PM) phosphatidylserine distribution. These changes correlated with increased K-Ras expression and extensive isoform-specific perturbation of Ras spatial organization: in CAV1-deficient cells K-RasG12V nanoclustering and MAPK activation were enhanced, whereas GTP-dependent lateral segregation of H-Ras was abolished resulting in compromised signal output from H-RasG12V nanoclusters. These changes in Ras nanoclustering were phenocopied by the down-regulation of Cavin1, another crucial caveolar structural component, and by acute loss of caveolae in response to increased osmotic pressure. Thus, we postulate that caveolae remotely regulate Ras nanoclustering and signal transduction by controlling PM organization. Similarly, caveolae transduce mechanical stress into PM lipid alterations that, in turn, modulate Ras PM organization.

PtdIns4P synthesis by PI4KIIIα at the plasma membrane and its impact on plasma membrane identity.

Plasma membrane phosphatidylinositol (PI) 4-phosphate (PtdIns4P) has critical functions via both direct interactions and metabolic conversion to PI 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P2) and other downstream metabolites. However, mechanisms that control this PtdIns4P pool in cells of higher eukaryotes remain elusive. PI4KIIIα, the enzyme thought to synthesize this PtdIns4P pool, is reported to localize in the ER, contrary to the plasma membrane localization of its yeast homologue, Stt4. In this paper, we show that PI4KIIIα was targeted to the plasma membrane as part of an evolutionarily conserved complex containing Efr3/rolling blackout, which we found was a palmitoylated peripheral membrane protein. PI4KIIIα knockout cells exhibited a profound reduction of plasma membrane PtdIns4P but surprisingly only a modest reduction of PtdIns(4,5)P2 because of robust up-regulation of PtdIns4P 5-kinases. In these cells, however, much of the PtdIns(4,5)P2 was localized intracellularly, rather than at the plasma membrane as in control cells, along with proteins typically restricted to this membrane, revealing a major contribution of PI4KIIIα to the definition of plasma membrane identity.