Eukaryotic IRE1 mitigates endoplasmic-reticulum (ER) stress by orchestrating the unfolded-protein response (UPR). IRE1 spans the ER membrane, and signals through a cytosolic kinase-endoribonuclease module. The endoribonuclease generates the transcription factor XBP1s by intron excision between similar RNA stem-loop endomotifs, and depletes select cellular mRNAs through regulated IRE1-dependent decay (RIDD). Paradoxically, mammalian RIDD seemingly targets only mRNAs with XBP1-like endomotifs, while in flies RIDD exhibits little sequence restriction. By comparing nascent and total IRE1α-controlled mRNAs in human breast cancer cells, we discovered not only canonical endomotif-containing RIDD substrates, but also many targets lacking recognizable motifs-degraded by a process we coin RIDDLE, for RIDD lacking endomotif. IRE1α displayed two basic endoribonuclease modalities: endomotif-specific cleavage, minimally requiring dimers; and endomotif-independent promiscuous processing, requiring phospho-oligomers. An oligomer-deficient mutant that did not support RIDDLE failed to rescue cancer-cell viability. These results link IRE1α oligomers, RIDDLE, and cell survival, advancing mechanistic understanding of the UPR.
Mitochondria regulate the unfolded protein response leading to cancer cell survival under glucose deprivation conditions