Search

The mouse mutants mocha and pearl are deficient in the AP-3 delta and beta3A subunits, respectively. We have used cells from these mice to investigate both the assembly of AP-3 complexes and AP-3 function. In mocha cells, the beta3 and mu3 subunits coassemble into a heterodimer, whereas the sigma3 subunit remains monomeric. In pearl cells, the delta and sigma3 subunits coassemble into a heterodimer, whereas mu3 gets destroyed. The yeast two hybrid system was used to confirm these interactions, and also to demonstrate that the A (ubiquitous) and B (neuronal-specific) isoforms of beta3 and mu3 can interact with each other. Pearl cell lines were generated that express beta3A, beta3B, a beta3Abeta2 chimera, two beta3A deletion mutants, and a beta3A point mutant lacking a functional clathrin binding site. All six constructs assembled into complexes and were recruited onto membranes. However, only beta3A, beta3B, and the point mutant gave full functional rescue, as assayed by LAMP-1 sorting. The beta3Abeta2 chimera and the beta3A short deletion mutant gave partial functional rescue, whereas the beta3A truncation mutant gave no functional rescue. These results indicate that the hinge and/or ear domains of beta3 are important for function, but the clathrin binding site is not needed.

Many cellular processes rely on the ordered assembly of macromolecular structures. Here, we uncover an unexpected link between two such processes, endocytosis and transcription. Many endocytic proteins, including eps15, epsin1, the clathrin assembly lymphoid myeloid leukemia (CALM), and alpha-adaptin, accumulate in the nucleus when nuclear export is inhibited. Endocytosis and nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of endocytic proteins are apparently independent processes, since inhibition of endocytosis did not appreciably alter nuclear translocation of endocytic proteins, and blockade of nuclear export did not change the initial rate of endocytosis. In the nucleus, eps15 and CALM acted as positive modulators of transcription in a GAL4-based transactivation assay, thus raising the intriguing possibility that some endocytic proteins play a direct or indirect role in transcriptional regulation.

In the neuroendocrine cell line, PC12, synaptic vesicles can be generated from endosomes by a sorting and vesiculation process that requires the heterotetrameric adaptor protein AP3 and a small molecular weight GTPase of the ADP ribosylation factor (ARF) family. We have now discovered a second pathway that sorts the synaptic vesicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP) into similarly sized vesicles. For this pathway the plasma membrane is the precursor rather than endosomes. Both pathways require cytosol and ATP and are inhibited by GTPgammaS. The second pathway, however, uses AP2 instead of AP3 and is brefeldin A insensitive. The AP2-dependent pathway is inhibited by depletion of clathrin or by inhibitors of clathrin binding, whereas the AP3 pathway is not. The VAMP-containing, plasma membrane-derived vesicles can be readily separated on sucrose gradients from transferrin (Tf)-containing vesicles generated by incubating Tf-labeled plasma membrane preparations at 37 degreesC. Dynamin- interacting proteins are required for the AP2-mediated vesiculation from the plasma membrane, but not from endosomes. Thus, VAMP is sorted into small vesicles by AP3 and ARF1 at endosomes and by AP2 and clathrin at the plasma membrane.

The transport of newly synthesized proteins through the vacuolar protein sorting pathway in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae requires two distinct target SNAP receptor (t-SNARE) proteins, Pep12p and Vam3p. Pep12p is localized to the pre-vacuolar endosome and its activity is required for transport of proteins from the Golgi to the vacuole through a well defined route, the carboxypeptidase Y (CPY) pathway. Vam3p is localized to the vacuole where it mediates delivery of cargoes from both the CPY and the recently described alkaline phosphatase (ALP) pathways. Surprisingly, despite their organelle-specific functions in sorting of vacuolar proteins, overexpression of VAM3 can suppress the protein sorting defects of pep12Delta cells. Based on this observation, we developed a genetic screen to identify domains in Vam3p (e.g., localization and/or specific protein-protein interaction domains) that allow it to efficiently substitute for Pep12p. Using this screen, we identified mutations in a 7-amino acid sequence in Vam3p that lead to missorting of Vam3p from the ALP pathway into the CPY pathway where it can substitute for Pep12p at the pre-vacuolar endosome. This region contains an acidic di-leucine sequence that is closely related to sorting signals required for AP-3 adaptor-dependent transport in both yeast and mammalian systems. Furthermore, disruption of AP-3 function also results in the ability of wild-type Vam3p to compensate for pep12 mutants, suggesting that AP-3 mediates the sorting of Vam3p via the di-leucine signal. Together, these data provide the first identification of an adaptor protein-specific sorting signal in a t-SNARE protein, and suggest that AP-3-dependent sorting of Vam3p acts to restrict its interaction with compartment-specific accessory proteins, thereby regulating its function. Regulated transport of cargoes such as Vam3p through the AP-3-dependent pathway may play an important role in maintaining the unique composition, function, and morphology of the vacuole.

Small GTP-binding proteins such as ADP- ribosylation factor 1 (ARF1) and Sar1p regulate the membrane association of coat proteins involved in intracellular membrane trafficking. ARF1 controls the clathrin coat adaptor AP-1 and the nonclathrin coat COPI, whereas Sar1p controls the nonclathrin coat COPII. In this study, we demonstrate that membrane association of the recently described AP-3 adaptor is regulated by ARF1. Association of AP-3 with membranes in vitro was enhanced by GTPgammaS and inhibited by brefeldin A (BFA), an inhibitor of ARF1 guanine nucleotide exchange. In addition, recombinant myristoylated ARF1 promoted association of AP-3 with membranes. The role of ARF1 in vivo was examined by assessing AP-3 subcellular localization when the intracellular level of ARF1-GTP was altered through overexpression of dominant ARF1 mutants or ARF1- GTPase-activating protein (GAP). Lowering ARF1-GTP levels resulted in redistribution of AP-3 from punctate membrane-bound structures to the cytosol as seen by immunofluorescence microscopy. In contrast, increasing ARF1-GTP levels prevented redistribution of AP-3 to the cytosol induced by BFA or energy depletion. Similar experiments with mutants of ARF5 and ARF6 showed that these other ARF family members had little or no effect on AP-3. Taken together, our results indicate that membrane recruitment of AP-3 is promoted by ARF1-GTP. This finding suggests that ARF1 is not a regulator of specific coat proteins, but rather is a ubiquitous molecular switch that acts as a transducer of diverse signals influencing coat assembly.

We have recently shown that two proteins related to two of the adaptor subunits of clathrincoated vesicles, p47 (mu3) and beta-NAP (beta3B), are part of an adaptor-like complex not associated with clathrin (Simpson, F., N.A. Bright, M.A. West, L.S. Newman, R.B. Darnell, and M.S. Robinson, 1996. J. Cell Biol. 133:749-760). In the present study we have searched the EST database and have identified, cloned, and sequenced a ubiquitously expressed homologue of beta-NAP, beta3A, as well as homologues of the alpha/gamma and sigma adaptor subunits, delta and sigma3, which are also ubiquitously expressed. Antibodies raised against recombinant delta and sigma3 show that they are the other two subunits of the adaptor-like complex. We are calling this complex AP-3, a name that has also been used for the neuronalspecific phosphoprotein AP180, but we feel that it is a more appropriate designation for an adaptor-related heterotetramer. Immunofluorescence using anti-delta antibodies reveals that the AP-3 complex is associated with the Golgi region of the cell as well as with more peripheral structures. These peripheral structures show only limited colocalization with endosomal markers and may correspond to a postTGN biosynthetic compartment. The delta subunit is closely related to the protein product of the Drosophila garnet gene, which when mutated results in reduced pigmentation of the eyes and other tissues. Because pigment granules are believed to be similar to lysosomes, this suggests either that the AP-3 complex may be directly involved in trafficking to lysosomes or alternatively that it may be involved in another pathway, but that missorting in that pathway may indirectly lead to defects in pigment granules.

Strong evidence implicates clathrin-coated vesicles and endosome-like vacuoles in the reformation of synaptic vesicles after exocytosis, and it is generally assumed that these vacuoles represent a traffic station downstream from clathrin-coated vesicles. To gain insight into the mechanisms of synaptic vesicle budding from endosome-like intermediates, lysed nerve terminals and nerve terminal membrane subfractions were examined by EM after incubations with GTP gamma S. Numerous clathrin-coated budding intermediates that were positive for AP2 and AP180 immunoreactivity and often collared by a dynamin ring were seen. These were present not only on the plasma membrane (Takei, K., P.S. McPherson, S.L.Schmid, and P. De Camilli. 1995. Nature (Lond.). 374:186-190), but also on internal vacuoles. The lumen of these vacuoles retained extracellular tracers and was therefore functionally segregated from the extracellular medium, although narrow connections between their membranes and the plasmalemma were sometimes visible by serial sectioning. Similar observations were made in intact cultured hippocampal neurons exposed to high K+ stimulation. Coated vesicle buds were generally in the same size range of synaptic vesicles and positive for the synaptic vesicle protein synaptotagmin. Based on these results, we suggest that endosome-like intermediates of nerve terminals originate by bulk uptake of the plasma membrane and that clathrin- and dynamin-mediated budding takes place in parallel from the plasmalemma and from these internal membranes. We propose a synaptic vesicle recycling model that involves a single vesicle budding step mediated by clathrin and dynamin.

We have examined the in vitro behavior of clathrin-coated vesicles that have been stripped of their surface coats such that the majority of the clathrin is removed but substantial amounts of clathrin assembly proteins (AP) remain membrane-associated. Aggregation of these stripped coated vesicles (s-CV) is observed when they are placed under conditions that approximate the pH and ionic strength of the cell interior (pH 7.2, approximately 100 mM salt). This s-CV aggregation reaction is rapid (t1/2 < or = 0.5 min), independent of temperature within a range of 4-37 degrees C, and unaffected by ATP, guanosine-5'-O-(3-thiophosphate), and in particular EGTA, distinguishing it from Ca(2+)-dependent membrane aggregation reactions. The process is driven by the action of membrane-associated AP molecules since partial proteolysis results in a full loss of activity and since aggregation is abolished by pretreatment of the s-CVs with a monoclonal antibody that reacts with the alpha subunit of AP-2. However, vesicle aggregation is not inhibited by PPPi, indicating that the previously characterized polyphosphate-sensitive AP-2 self-association is not responsible for the reaction. The vesicle aggregation reaction can be reconstituted: liposomes of phospholipid composition approximating that found on the cytoplasmic surfaces of the plasma membrane and of coated vesicles (70% L-alpha-phosphatidylethanolamine (type I-A), 15% L-alpha-phosphatidyl-L-serine, and 15% L-alpha-phosphatidylinositol) aggregated after addition of AP-2, but not of AP-1, AP-3 (AP180), or pure clathrin triskelions. Aggregation of liposomes is abolished by limited proteolysis of AP-2 with trypsin. In addition, a highly purified AP-2 alpha preparation devoid of beta causes liposome aggregation, whereas pure beta subunit does not, consistent with results obtained in the s-CV assay which also indicate the involvement of the alpha subunit. Using a fluorescence energy transfer assay we show that AP-2 does not cause fusion of liposomes under physiological solution conditions. However, since the fusion of membranes necessarily requires the close opposition of the two participating bilayers, the AP-2-dependent vesicle aggregation events that we have identified may represent an initial step in the formation and fusion of endosomes that occur subsequent to endocytosis and clathrin uncoating in vivo.