Inositol polyphosphates containing an energetic pyrophosphate bond are formed primarily by a family of three inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) kinases (IP6K1-3). The Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases (CRLs) regulate diverse biological processes through substrate ubiquitylation. CRL4, comprising the scaffold Cullin 4A/B, the E2-interacting Roc1/2, and the adaptor protein damage-specific DNA-binding protein 1, is activated by DNA damage. Basal CRL4 activity is inhibited by binding to the COP9 signalosome (CSN). UV radiation and other stressors dissociate the complex, leading to E3 ligase activation, but signaling events that trigger signalosome dissociation from CRL4 have been unclear. In the present study, we show that, under basal conditions, IP6K1 forms a ternary complex with CSN and CRL4 in which IP6K1 and CRL4 are inactive. UV dissociates IP6K1 to generate IP7, which then dissociates CSN-CRL4 to activate CRL4. Thus, IP6K1 is a novel CRL4 subunit that transduces UV signals to mediate disassembly of the CRL4-CSN complex, thereby regulating nucleotide excision repair and cell death.
Inositol pyrophosphates containing seven (IP7) or more phosphate groups on a myo-inositol ring are synthesized from inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) primarily by a family of IP6 kinases that are conserved from yeast to humans and mediate diverse physiologic functions (1, 2). Among the three mammalian IP6K isoforms, IP6K1 and IP6K2 are widely distributed, whereas IP6K3 is expressed primarily in the brain (3). IP6K1 plays a role in diabetes (4), DNA homologous recombination (HR) repair (5), spermatogenesis (6), and chromatin modifications (7).The Cullin-RING ubiquitin ligases (CRLs) control fundamental biological processes by mediating 20% of ubiquitindependent protein turnover (8). These E3 ligases are multiprotein complexes composed of the scaffold Cullins (Cul 1-7), the E2-interacting RING-finger protein Roc1/2, adaptor proteins specific for each Cullin family member, and adaptor-interacting substrate receptors that target substrates for ubiquitylation. CRL4, a DNA-damage-sensing member of this family (9), mediates the degradation of numerous substrates involved in cell cycle regulation (CDT1, p21, p27) as well as cell growth or death (c-Jun, p53) and is aberrantly active in many tumor types (10). The CRL4 complex comprises Cul4A/B and the adaptor protein damagespecific DNA binding protein 1 (DDB1). DDB1 binds to a family of WD40 domain-containing proteins that are substrate receptors (11, 12). The complex of DDB1 and its substrate receptor DDB2 binds directly to UV-damaged DNA to initiate nucleotide excision repair (NER) by ubiquitylating local histones and the NER machinery (9). Loss of DDB activity results in group E xeroderma pigmentosum, whose victims are hypersensitive to UV light. However, it remains unclear how CRL4 is activated by UV.In plants, CRL4 is also regulated by UV. Thus, UV absorption by tryptophan residues in the dimer interface of UV-B Resistance 8 (UVR8) triggers dimer dissociation (13). Monomeric UVR8 binds and seque...