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Metabolites that are elevated in tumours inhibit the lysine demethylase KDM4B, resulting in aberrant hypermethylation of histone 3 lysine 9 and decreased homology-dependent DNA repair.

Deregulation of metabolism and disruption of genome integrity are hallmarks of cancer(1). Increased levels of the metabolites 2-hydroxyglutarate, succinate and fumarate occur in human malignancies owing to somatic mutations in the isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 or -2 (IDH1 or IDH2) genes, or germline mutations in the fumarate hydratase (FH) and succinate dehydrogenase genes (SDHA, SDHB, SDHC and SDHD), respectively(2-4). Recent work has made an unexpected connection between these metabolites and DNA repair by showing that they suppress the pathway of homology-dependent repair (HDR)(5,6) and confer an exquisite sensitivity to inhibitors of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) that are being tested in clinical trials. However, the mechanism by which these oncometabolites inhibit HDR remains poorly understood. Here we determine the pathway by which these metabolites disrupt DNA repair. We show that oncometabolite-induced inhibition of the lysine demethylase KDM4B results in aberrant hypermethylation of histone 3 lysine 9 (H3K9) at loci surrounding DNA breaks, masking a local H3K9 trimethylation signal that is essential for the proper execution of HDR. Consequently, recruitment of TIP60 and ATM, two key proximal HDR factors, is substantially impaired at DNA breaks, with reduced end resection and diminished recruitment of downstream repair factors. These findings provide a mechanistic basis for oncometabolite-induced HDR suppression and may guide effective strategies to exploit these defects for therapeutic gain.

The mechanics of the cellular microenvironment continuously modulates cell functions such as growth, survival, apoptosis, differentiation and morphogenesis via cytoskeletal remodelling and actomyosin contractility(1-3). Although all of these processes consume energy(4,5), it is unknown whether and how cells adapt their metabolic activity to variable mechanical cues. Here we report that the transfer of human bronchial epithelial cells from stiff to soft substrates causes a downregulation of glycolysis via proteasomal degradation of the rate-limiting metabolic enzyme phosphofructokinase (PFK). PFK degradation is triggered by the disassembly of stress fibres, which releases the PFK-targeting E3 ubiquitin ligase tripartite motif (TRIM)-containing protein 21 (TRIM21). Transformed non-small-cell lung cancer cells, which maintain high glycolytic rates regardless of changing environmental mechanics, retain PFK expression by downregulating TRIM21, and by sequestering residual TRIM21 on a stress-fibre subset that is insensitive to substrate stiffness. Our data reveal a mechanism by which glycolysis responds to architectural features of the actomyosin cytoskeleton, thus coupling cell metabolism to the mechanical properties of the surrounding tissue. These processes enable normal cells to tune energy production in variable microenvironments, whereas the resistance of the cytoskeleton in response to mechanical cues enables the persistence of high glycolytic rates in cancer cells despite constant alterations of the tumour tissue.

Glycolysis in normal epithelial cells responds to microenvironmental mechanics via the modulation of actin bundles that sequester the phosphofructokinase-targeting ubiquitin ligase TRIM21, a process superseded by persistent actin bundles in cancer cells.