Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate couples glycolytic activity to cell adhesion

Cellular adhesion to the extracellular matrix is essential for morphogenesis, tissue integrity and survival signalling. The best understood adhesion structures are focal adhesions (FAs). In spite of their importance, our knowledge of upstream factors that integrate FA dynamics with other cellular processes, such as metabolism, remains fragmentary. Using a genome-wide screen, we identify aldolase A, a key glycolytic enzyme that converts fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (FBP), as a regulatory switch that links metabolic flux to FA assembly and cell morphogenesis. We show that cellular FBP serves as a signalling metabolite, which transmits information about the metabolic cell state to the actin-based machinery for cell adhesion and protrusion. This mechanism involves FBP binding to the Rac1 inhibitor RCC2 and a concomitant elevation of Rac1 activity resulting in actin reorganization, increased FA assembly and elevated protrusive activity. Here we predict this mechanism to be crucial for processes ranging from development to cancer.