RESEARCH ARTICLE elifesciences.org Pharmacological dimerization and activation of the exchange factor eIF2B antagonizes the integrated stress response Carmela Sidrauski1,2*†‡, Jordan C Tsai1,2†, Martin Kampmann2,3, Brian R Hearn4,5, Punitha Vedantham4,5, Priyadarshini Jaishankar4,5, Masaaki Sokabe6, Aaron S Mendez2,3, Billy W Newton7, Edward L Tang7,8, Erik Verschueren7, Jeffrey R Johnson7,8, Nevan J Krogan7,8, Christopher S Fraser6, Jonathan S Weissman2,3, Adam R Renslo4,5, Peter Walter1,2* 1Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; 2Howard Hughes Medical Institution, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; 3Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; 4Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; 5Small Molecule Discovery Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; 6Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, United States; 7QB3, California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; 8Gladstone *For correspondence: Institutes, San Francisco, United States
[email protected] (CS); peter@ walterlab.ucsf.edu (PW) †These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract The general translation initiation factor eIF2 is a major translational control point. Multiple signaling pathways in the integrated stress response phosphorylate eIF2 serine-51, ‡ Present address: Calico LLC, inhibiting nucleotide exchange by eIF2B. ISRIB, a potent drug-like small molecule, renders cells South San Francisco, United insensitive to eIF2α phosphorylation and enhances cognitive function in rodents by blocking long- States term depression.