A versatile nanobody-based toolkit to analyze retrograde transport from the cell surface.

Retrograde transport of membranes and proteins from the cell surface to the Golgi and beyond is essential to maintain homeostasis, compartment identity, and physiological functions. To study retrograde traffic biochemically, by live-cell imaging or by electron microscopy, we engineered functionalized anti-GFP nanobodies (camelid VHH antibody domains) to be bacterially expressed and purified. Tyrosine sulfation consensus sequences were fused to the nanobody for biochemical detection of trans-Golgi arrival, fluorophores for fluorescence microscopy and live imaging, and APEX2 (ascorbate peroxidase 2) for electron microscopy and compartment ablation. These functionalized nanobodies are specifically captured by GFP-modified reporter proteins at the cell surface and transported piggyback to the reporters' homing compartments. As an application of this tool, we have used it to determine the contribution of adaptor protein-1/clathrin in retrograde transport kinetics of the mannose-6-phosphate receptors from endosomes back to the trans-Golgi network. Our experiments establish functionalized nanobodies as a powerful tool to demonstrate and quantify retrograde transport pathways.

Rabaptin5 is recruited to endosomes by Rab4 and Rabex5 to regulate endosome maturation.

Rab GTPases control membrane identity, fusion and transport by interaction with effector proteins. Effectors that influence the activation-inactivation cycle of their own or other Rab proteins contribute to the timely conversion of Rab membrane identities. Rab5 and its effector rabaptin5 (Rbpt5, also known as RABEP1) are generally considered the prime example for a positive-feedback loop in which Rab5-GTP recruits Rbpt5 in complex with Rabex5 (also known as RABGEF1), the GDP/GTP exchange factor of Rab5, to early endosomes, thus maintaining the Rab5 membrane identity. By deletion analysis, we found that the membrane recruitment of Rabaptin5 required binding to Rab4 and Rabex5, but not Rab5. Deletion of either one of the two Rab5-binding domains or silencing of Rab5 expression did not affect Rabaptin5 recruitment, but produced giant endosomes with early and late endosomal characteristics. The results contradict the model of feedback activation of Rab5 and instead indicate that Rbpt5 is recruited by both Rabex5 recognizing ubiquitylated cargo and by Rab4 to activate Rab5 in a feed-forward manner.

Protein sorting from endosomes to the TGN.

Retrograde transport from endosomes to the trans-Golgi network is essential for recycling of protein and lipid cargoes to counterbalance anterograde membrane traffic. Protein cargo subjected to retrograde traffic include lysosomal acid-hydrolase receptors, SNARE proteins, processing enzymes, nutrient transporters, a variety of other transmembrane proteins, and some extracellular non-host proteins such as viral, plant, and bacterial toxins. Efficient delivery of these protein cargo molecules depends on sorting machineries selectively recognizing and concentrating them for their directed retrograde transport from endosomal compartments. In this review, we outline the different retrograde transport pathways governed by various sorting machineries involved in endosome-to-TGN transport. In addition, we discuss how this transport route can be analyzed experimentally.

Retrograde transport of CDMPR depends on several machineries as analyzed by sulfatable nanobodies.

Retrograde protein transport from the cell surface and endosomes to the TGN is essential for membrane homeostasis in general and for the recycling of mannose-6-phosphate receptors (MPRs) for sorting of lysosomal hydrolases in particular. We used a nanobody-based sulfation tool to more directly determine transport kinetics from the plasma membrane to the TGN for the cation-dependent MPR (CDMPR) with and without rapid or gradual inactivation of candidate machinery proteins. Although knockdown of retromer (Vps26), epsinR, or Rab9a reduced CDMPR arrival to the TGN, no effect was observed upon silencing of TIP47. Strikingly, when retrograde transport was analyzed by rapamycin-induced rapid depletion (knocksideways) or long-term depletion by knockdown of the clathrin adaptor AP-1 or of the GGA machinery, distinct phenotypes in sulfation kinetics were observed, suggesting a potential role of GGA adaptors in retrograde and anterograde transport. Our study illustrates the usefulness of derivatized, sulfation-competent nanobodies, reveals novel insights into CDMPR trafficking biology, and further outlines that the selection of machinery inactivation is critical for phenotype analysis.

A novel live-cell imaging assay reveals regulation of endosome maturation.

Cell-cell communication is an essential process in life, with endosomes acting as key organelles for regulating uptake and secretion of signaling molecules. Endocytosed material is accepted by the sorting endosome where it either is sorted for recycling or remains in the endosome as it matures to be degraded in the lysosome. Investigation of the endosome maturation process has been hampered by the small size and rapid movement of endosomes in most cellular systems. Here, we report an easy versatile live-cell imaging assay to monitor endosome maturation kinetics, which can be applied to a variety of mammalian cell types. Acute ionophore treatment led to enlarged early endosomal compartments that matured into late endosomes and fused with lysosomes to form endolysosomes. Rab5-to-Rab7 conversion and PI(3)P formation and turn over were recapitulated with this assay and could be observed with a standard widefield microscope. We used this approach to show that Snx1 and Rab11-positive recycling endosome recruitment occurred throughout endosome maturation and was uncoupled from Rab conversion. In contrast, efficient endosomal acidification was dependent on Rab conversion. The assay provides a powerful tool to further unravel various aspects of endosome maturation.

Analysis of Endocytic Uptake and Retrograde Transport to the Trans-Golgi Network Using Functionalized Nanobodies in Cultured Cells.

Transport of proteins and membranes from the cell surface to the Golgi and beyond is essential for homeostasis, organelle identity and physiology. To study retrograde protein traffic, we have recently developed a versatile nanobody-based toolkit to analyze transport from the cell surface to the Golgi complex, either by fixed and live cell imaging, by electron microscopy, or biochemically. We engineered functionalized anti-green fluorescent protein (GFP) nanobodies - small, monomeric, high-affinity protein binders - that can be applied to cell lines expressing membrane proteins of interest with an extracellular GFP moiety. Derivatized nanobodies bound to the GFP reporters are specifically internalized and transported piggyback along the reporters' sorting routes. Nanobodies were functionalized with fluorophores to follow retrograde transport by fluorescence microscopy and live imaging, with ascorbate peroxidase 2 (APEX2) to investigate the ultrastructural localization of reporter-nanobody complexes by electron microscopy, and with tyrosine sulfation (TS) motifs to assess kinetics of trans-Golgi network (TGN) arrival. In this methodological article, we outline the general procedure to bacterially express and purify functionalized nanobodies. We illustrate the powerful use of our tool using the mCherry- and TS-modified nanobodies to analyze endocytic uptake and TGN arrival of cargo proteins.

Quantitative proteomics reveals reduction of endocytic machinery components in gliomas.

BACKGROUND: Gliomas are the most frequent and aggressive malignancies of the central nervous system. Decades of molecular analyses have demonstrated that gliomas accumulate genetic alterations that culminate in enhanced activity of receptor tyrosine kinases and downstream mediators. While the genetic alterations, like gene amplification or loss, have been well characterized, little information exists about changes in the proteome of gliomas of different grades. METHODS: We performed unbiased quantitative proteomics of human glioma biopsies by mass spectrometry followed by bioinformatic analysis. FINDINGS: Various pathways were found to be up- or downregulated. In particular, endocytosis as pathway was affected by a vast and concomitant reduction of multiple machinery components involved in initiation, formation, and scission of endocytic carriers. Both clathrin-dependent and -independent endocytosis were changed, since not only clathrin, AP-2 adaptins, and endophilins were downregulated, but also dynamin that is shared by both pathways. The reduction of endocytic machinery components caused increased receptor cell surface levels, a prominent phenotype of defective endocytosis. Analysis of additional biopsies revealed that depletion of endocytic machinery components was a common trait of various glioma grades and subclasses. INTERPRETATION: We propose that impaired endocytosis creates a selective advantage in glioma tumor progression due to prolonged receptor tyrosine kinase signaling from the cell surface. FUND: This work was supported by Grants 316030-164105 (to P. Jenö), 31003A-162643 (to M. Spiess) and PP00P3-176974 (to G. Hutter) from the Swiss National Science Foundation. Further funding was received by the Department of Surgery from the University Hospital Basel.

A fresh look at the function of Rabaptin5 on endosomes.

Rab GTPases act as organizers of protein networks defining identities and functions of organelles of the endocytic and secretory pathways. Various modes of coordination between different Rabs drive the timely maturation and conversion of membranes. Endosomal Rab5 has been known as the prime example for self-activation via a feedback loop recruiting Rabaptin5, which is complexed with the Rab5 exchange factor Rabex5, and couples to Rab4-GTP. Among other effectors, Rab5 also recruits the Mon1/SAND1-Ccz1 complex that both activates Rab7 and dissociates Rabex5 for Rab5-to-Rab7 conversion of early-to-late endosomes. A detailed deletion analysis now revealed 2 separate binding sites each for Rab4-GTP and Rab5-GTP and indicates a feedforward mechanism of Rab5 activation. Rabaptin5/Rabex5 is recruited to endosomal membranes positive for Rab4-GTP and ubiquitinated cargo (binding to the ubiquitin binding site of Rabex5). This mechanism also suggests additional criteria for Rab5 inactivation concomitant with increasing Rab7-GTP levels. The disappearance of ubiquitinated cargo upon ESCRT-mediated formation of intraluminal vesicles and inactivation of Rab4 may also contribute to loss of Rab5 activation. Rabaptin5/Rabex5 thus may integrate several cues of maturation to perform Rab conversion. Furthermore Rab5 binding to Rabaptin5 appears to prevent uncontrolled progression to late endosomes.