Inositol pyrophosphates activate the vacuolar transport chaperone complex in yeast by disrupting a homotypic SPX domain interaction.

Many proteins involved in eukaryotic phosphate homeostasis are regulated by SPX domains. In yeast, the vacuolar transporter chaperone (VTC) complex contains two such domains, but mechanistic details of its regulation are not well understood. Here, we show at the atomic level how inositol pyrophosphates interact with SPX domains of subunits Vtc2 and Vtc3 to control the activity of the VTC complex. Vtc2 inhibits the catalytically active VTC subunit Vtc4 by homotypic SPX-SPX interactions via the conserved helix α1 and the previously undescribed helix α7. Binding of inositol pyrophosphates to Vtc2 abrogates this interaction, thus activating the VTC complex. Accordingly, VTC activation is also achieved by site-specific point mutations that disrupt the SPX-SPX interface. Structural data suggest that ligand binding induces reorientation of helix α1 and exposes the modifiable helix α7, which might facilitate its post-translational modification in vivo. The variable composition of these regions within the SPX domain family might contribute to the diversified SPX functions in eukaryotic phosphate homeostasis.