SUMMARY Ferroptosis is a form of programmed cell death pathogenic to several acute and chronic diseases and executed via oxygenation of polyunsaturated phosphatidylethanolamines (PE) by 15-lipoxygenases (15-LO) that normally use free polyunsaturated fatty acids as substrates. Mechanisms of the altered 15-LO substrate specificity are enigmatic. We sought a common ferroptosis regulator for 15LO. We discovered that PEBP1, a scaffold protein inhibitor of protein kinase cascades, complexes with two 15LO isoforms, 15LO1 and 15LO2, and changes their substrate competence to generate hydroperoxy-PE. Inadequate reduction of hydroperoxy-PE due to insufficiency or dysfunction of a selenoperoxidase, GPX4, leads to ferroptosis. We demonstrated the importance of PEBP1-dependent regulatory mechanisms of ferroptotic death in airway epithelial cells in asthma, kidney epithelial cells in renal failure and cortical and hippocampal neurons in brain trauma. As master regulators of ferroptotic cell death with profound implications for human disease, PEBP1/15LO complexes represent a new target for drug discovery.

Summary Protein quality control (PQC) degradation systems protect the cell from the toxic accumulation of misfolded proteins. Because any protein can become misfolded, these systems must be able to distinguish abnormal proteins from normal ones, yet be capable of recognizing the wide variety of distinctly shaped misfolded proteins they are likely to encounter. How individual PQC degradation systems accomplish this remains an open question. Here we show that the yeast nuclear PQC ubiquitin ligase San1 directly recognizes its misfolded substrates via intrinsically disordered N- and C-terminal domains. These disordered domains are punctuated with small segments of order and high sequence conservation that serve as substrate-recognition sites San1 uses to target its different substrates. We propose that these substrate-recognition sites, interspersed among flexible, disordered regions, provide San1 an inherent plasticity that allows it to bind its many, differently shaped misfolded substrates.

The yeast nuclear protein quality control ubiquitin ligase San1 recognizes exposed hydrophobicity in its misfolded substrates. San1 recognition is triggered by exposure of as few as five contiguous hydrophobic residues, which defines the minimum window of hydrophobicity required for San1 targeting.

Summary Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) ion channels underlie the cationic Ih current present in many neurons. The direct binding of cAMP to HCN channels increases the rate and extent of channel opening and results in a depolarizing shift in the voltage dependence of activation. TRIP8b is an accessory protein that regulates the cell surface expression and dendritic localization of HCN channels and reduces the cyclic nucleotide dependence of these channels. Here we use electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) to show that TRIP8b binds to the apo state of the cyclic nucleotide-binding domain (CNBD) of HCN2 channels without changing the overall domain structure. With EPR and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), we locate TRIP8b relative to the HCN channel and identify the binding interface on the CNBD. These data provide a structural framework for understanding how TRIP8b regulates the cyclic nucleotide dependence of HCN channels.

sn2-15-HpETE-PE generated by mammalian 15-lipoxygenase/phosphatidylethanolamine binding protein-1 (PEBP1) complex is a death signal in a recently identified type of programmed cell demise, ferroptosis. How the enzymatic complex selects sn2-ETE-PE as the substrate among 1 of ~100 total oxidizable membrane PUFA phospholipids is a central yet unresolved question. To unearth the highly selective and specific mechanisms of catalytic competence, we used a combination of redox lipidomics, mutational and computational structural analysis to show they stem from: i) reactivity towards readily accessible hexagonally organized membrane sn2-ETE-PEs, ii) relative preponderance of sn2-ETE-PE species vs. other sn2-ETE-PLs, iii) allosteric modification of the enzyme in the complex with PEBP1. This emphasizes the role of enzymatic vs. random stochastic free radical reactions in ferroptotic death signaling.