SEC16A is a RAB10 effector required for insulin-stimulated GLUT4 trafficking in adipocytes

Sec16A is known to be required for COPII vesicle formation from the ER. Here, Bruno et al. show that, independent of its role at the ER, Sec16A is a RAB10 effector involved in the insulin-stimulated formation of specialized transport vesicles that ferry the GLUT4 glucose transporter to the plasma membrane of adipocytes.
RAB10 is a regulator of insulin-stimulated translocation of the GLUT4 glucose transporter to the plasma membrane (PM) of adipocytes, which is essential for whole-body glucose homeostasis. We establish SEC16A as a novel RAB10 effector in this process. Colocalization of SEC16A with RAB10 is augmented by insulin stimulation, and SEC16A knockdown attenuates insulin-induced GLUT4 translocation, phenocopying RAB10 knockdown. We show that SEC16A and RAB10 promote insulin-stimulated mobilization of GLUT4 from a perinuclear recycling endosome/TGN compartment. We propose RAB10–SEC16A functions to accelerate formation of the vesicles that ferry GLUT4 to the PM during insulin stimulation. Because GLUT4 continually cycles between the PM and intracellular compartments, the maintenance of elevated cell-surface GLUT4 in the presence of insulin requires accelerated biogenesis of the specialized GLUT4 transport vesicles. The function of SEC16A in GLUT4 trafficking is independent of its previously characterized activity in ER exit site formation and therefore independent of canonical COPII-coated vesicle function. However, our data support a role for SEC23A, but not the other COPII components SEC13, SEC23B, and SEC31, in the insulin stimulation of GLUT4 trafficking, suggesting that vesicles derived from subcomplexes of COPII coat proteins have a role in the specialized trafficking of GLUT4.