A nucleotide-triggered molecular switch orchestrating septin polymerization

Abstract

Septins are conserved cytoskeletal GTP-binding proteins that form higher-order structures critical for cytokinesis and polarized growth across opisthokonts. In budding yeast and humans, four homologous septins assemble into hetero-octameric protofilaments through alternating interactions between adjacent G-domains (G-interface) or N- and C-termini (NC-interface), which then polymerize end-to-end into filaments. How nucleotide binding and hydrolysis control filament assembly has remained elusive. We uncover a septin-specific mechanism in which nucleotide binding stabilizes the monomeric G-interface and primes it for protofilament formation. Cryo-EM and DEER spectroscopy reveal nucleotide-induced conformational changes that engage the G-interface and enable an NC-compatible conformation absent in the nucleotide-free state. In vitro binding and reconstitution assays confirm that G-interface formation is strictly nucleotide-dependent and required for subsequent NC-interface assembly. These findings establish unidirectional allosteric signaling from the G-to the NC-interface, revealing the molecular basis for controlled septin protofilament assembly.