UFMylation involves the covalent modification of substrate proteins with UFM1 (Ubiquitin-fold modifier 1) and is important for maintaining ER homeostasis. Stalled translation triggers the UFMylation of ER-bound ribosomes and activates C53-mediated autophagy to clear toxic polypeptides. C53 contains noncanonical shuffled ATG8-interacting motifs (sAIMs) that are essential for ATG8 interaction and autophagy initiation. However, the mechanistic basis of sAIM-mediated ATG8 interaction remains unknown. Here, we show that C53 and sAIMs are conserved across eukaryotes but secondarily lost in fungi and various algal lineages. Biochemical assays showed that the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has a functional UFMylation pathway, refuting the assumption that UFMylation is linked to multicellularity. Comparative structural analyses revealed that both UFM1 and ATG8 bind sAIMs in C53, but in a distinct way. Conversion of sAIMs into canonical AIMs impaired binding of C53 to UFM1, while strengthening ATG8 binding. Increased ATG8 binding led to the autoactivation of the C53 pathway and sensitization of Arabidopsis thaliana to ER stress. Altogether, our findings reveal an ancestral role of sAIMs in UFMylation-dependent fine-tuning of C53-mediated autophagy activation.

Roots are highly plastic organs enabling plants to adapt to a changing below-ground environment. In addition to abiotic factors like nutrients or mechanical resistance, plant roots also respond to temperature variation. Below the heat stress threshold, Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings react to elevated temperature by promoting primary root growth, possibly to reach deeper soil regions with potentially better water saturation. While above-ground thermomorphogenesis is enabled by thermo-sensitive cell elongation, it was unknown how temperature modulates root growth. We here show that roots are able to sense and respond to elevated temperature independently of shoot-derived signals. This response is mediated by a yet unknown root thermosensor that employs auxin as a messenger to relay temperature signals to the cell cycle. Growth promotion is achieved primarily by increasing cell division rates in the root apical meristem, depending on de novo local auxin biosynthesis and temperature-sensitive organization of the polar auxin transport system. Hence, the primary cellular target of elevated ambient temperature differs fundamentally between root and shoot tissues, while the messenger auxin remains the same.

A solid-phase approach including on-resin Ugi reactions was developed for the construction of β-hairpins. Various N-alkylated dipeptide fragments proved capable of aligning antiparallel β-sheets in a macrocyclic scaffold, thus serving as β-hairpin templates. Gramicidin S was used as the model β-hairpin to compare the Ugi-derived β-turns with the type-II′ β-turn. The results show that the multicomponent incorporation of such N-alkylated residues allows for the simultaneous stabilization and exo-cyclic functionalization of cyclic β-hairpins.

The cullin‐RING E3 ligases (CRLs) regulate diverse cellular processes in all eukaryotes. CRL activity is controlled by several proteins or protein complexes, including NEDD8, CAND1, and the CSN. Recently, a mammalian protein called Glomulin (GLMN) was shown to inhibit CRLs by binding to the RING BOX (RBX1) subunit and preventing binding to the ubiquitin‐conjugating enzyme. Here, we show that Arabidopsis ABERRANT LATERAL ROOT FORMATION4 (ALF4) is an ortholog of GLMN. The alf4 mutant exhibits a phenotype that suggests defects in plant hormone response. We show that ALF4 binds to RBX1 and inhibits the activity of SCFTIR1, an E3 ligase responsible for degradation of the Aux/IAA transcriptional repressors. In vivo, the alf4 mutation destabilizes the CUL1 subunit of the SCF. Reduced CUL1 levels are associated with increased levels of the Aux/IAA proteins as well as the DELLA repressors, substrate of SCFSLY1. We propose that the alf4 phenotype is partly due to increased levels of the Aux/IAA and DELLA proteins.

A multicomponent approach enabling the installation of turn-inducing moieties that facilitate the macrocyclization of short and medium-size oligopeptides is described. The strategy comprises the Ugi ligation of peptide carboxylic acids and isocyanopeptides in the presence of aldehydes and acid or photolabile amines followed by cyclization and cleavage of the backbone N-substituents to render canonical cyclopeptides. Implementing the approach on solid phase with the use of Rink amide resins led to a new class of backbone amide linker strategy.

A new multicomponent methodology for the solution- and solid-phase macrocyclization of peptides is described. The approach comprises the utilization of the Ugi–Smiles reaction for the cyclization of 3-nitrotyrosine-containing peptides either by the N-terminus or the lysine side-chain amino groups. Both the on-resin and solution cyclizations took place with good to excellent efficiency in the presence of an aldehyde and a lipidic isocyanide, while the use of paraformaldehyde required an aminocatalysis-mediated imine formation prior to the on-resin Ugi–Smiles ring closure. The introduction of a turn motif in the peptide sequence facilitated the cyclization step, shortened the reaction time, and delivered crude products with >90% purity. This powerful method provided a variety of structurally novel N-aryl-bridged cyclic lipopeptides occurring as single atropisomers

The first total synthesis of tubulysin B is described. The aziridine route to tubuphenylalanine (Tup) of the tubulysin D/U-series could not be transferred to the synthesis of tubutyrosine (blue moiety). Therefore, tubutyrosine (Tut) was synthesized by a Wittig olefination/diastereoselective catalytic reduction sequence. Interestingly, the C-2 epimer of tubulysin B has a cytotoxic activity almost identical to the natural diastereomer.

A new strategy for the synthesis of cyclic peptoids was developed. The approach is based on the use of consecutive Ugi reactions for the assembly of the acyclic peptoid and for the ring closure. Cyclopentapeptoid analogues of the RGD peptides were designed and synthesized using this methodology. The results confirm the versatility and efficiency of the method for the preparation of cyclic oligopeptoids.

A novel approach to freeze the imine exchange process in dynamic combinatorial libraries by Ugi reactions was developed. Macrocyclic oligoimine libraries previously formed and altered by addition of metal templates are efficiently quenched by multiple multicomponent reactions. The approach may be considered as an alternative to the typical reduction with borohydrides and delivers polyazamacrocycles with variable side arms. High dilution is not required to achieve high yields.

Polymer-supported benzylhydrazines were synthesized using poly(ethylene glycol) acrylamide (PEGA) resin. They can be used to scavenge electrophiles reactive with hydrazine. Especially aromatic aldehydes can be captured selectively, monoprotected, and reversibly linked in the presence of other functional groups, including electrophilic ones. Various reactions can be performed on these protectively linked aldehydes, which afterward can be released either with full restoration of the aldehyde function or, alternatively, with simultaneous conversion.