Adaptor Protein-1 Complex Affects the Endocytic Trafficking and Function of Peptidylglycine α-Amidating Monooxygenase, a Luminal Cuproenzyme.

The adaptor protein-1 complex (AP-1), which transports cargo between the trans-Golgi network and endosomes, plays a role in the trafficking of Atp7a, a copper-transporting P-type ATPase, and peptidylglycine α-amidating monooxygenase (PAM), a copper-dependent membrane enzyme. Lack of any of the four AP-1 subunits impairs function, and patients with MEDNIK syndrome, a rare genetic disorder caused by lack of expression of the σ1A subunit, exhibit clinical and biochemical signs of impaired copper homeostasis. To explore the role of AP-1 in copper homeostasis in neuroendocrine cells, we used corticotrope tumor cells in which AP-1 function was diminished by reducing expression of its µ1A subunit. Copper levels were unchanged when AP-1 function was impaired, but cellular levels of Atp7a declined slightly. The ability of PAM to function was assessed by monitoring 18-kDa fragment-NH2 production from proopiomelanocortin. Reduced AP-1 function made 18-kDa fragment amidation more sensitive to inhibition by bathocuproine disulfonate, a cell-impermeant Cu(I) chelator. The endocytic trafficking of PAM was altered, and PAM-1 accumulated on the cell surface when AP-1 levels were reduced. Reduced AP-1 function increased the Atp7a presence in early/recycling endosomes but did not alter the ability of copper to stimulate its appearance on the plasma membrane. Co-immunoprecipitation of a small fraction of PAM and Atp7a supports the suggestion that copper can be transferred directly from Atp7a to PAM, a process that can occur only when both proteins are present in the same subcellular compartment. Altered luminal cuproenzyme function may contribute to deficits observed when the AP-1 function is compromised.

Retinal vasculopathy is reduced by dietary salt restriction: involvement of Glia, ENaCα, and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system.

OBJECTIVE: Neovascularization and vaso-obliteration are vision-threatening events that develop by interactions between retinal vascular and glial cells. A high-salt diet is causal in cardiovascular and renal disease, which is linked to modulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. However, it is not known whether dietary salt influences retinal vasculopathy and if the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is involved. We examined whether a low-salt (LS) diet influenced vascular and glial cell injury and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system in ischemic retinopathy. APPROACH AND RESULTS: Pregnant Sprague Dawley rats were fed LS (0.03% NaCl) or normal salt (0.3% NaCl) diets, and ischemic retinopathy was induced in the offspring. An LS diet reduced retinal neovascularization and vaso-obliteration, the mRNA and protein levels of the angiogenic factors, vascular endothelial growth factor, and erythropoietin. Microglia, which influence vascular remodeling in ischemic retinopathy, were reduced by LS as was tumor necrosis factor-α. Macroglial Müller cells maintain the integrity of the blood-retinal barrier, and in ischemic retinopathy, LS reduced their gliosis and also vascular leakage. In retina, LS reduced mineralocorticoid receptor, angiotensin type 1 receptor, and renin mRNA levels, whereas, as expected, plasma levels of aldosterone and renin were increased. The aldosterone/mineralocorticoid receptor-sensitive epithelial sodium channel alpha (ENaCα), which is expressed in Müller cells, was increased in ischemic retinopathy and reduced by LS. In cultured Müller cells, high salt increased ENaCα, which was prevented by mineralocorticoid receptor and angiotensin type 1 receptor blockade. Conversely, LS reduced ENaCα, angiotensin type 1 receptor, and mineralocorticoid receptor expression. CONCLUSIONS: An LS diet reduced retinal vasculopathy, by modulating glial cell function and the retinal renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system.

Sip1, an AP-1 accessory protein in fission yeast, is required for localization of Rho3 GTPase.

Rho family GTPases act as molecular switches to regulate a range of physiological functions, including the regulation of the actin-based cytoskeleton, membrane trafficking, cell morphology, nuclear gene expression, and cell growth. Rho function is regulated by its ability to bind GTP and by its localization. We previously demonstrated functional and physical interactions between Rho3 and the clathrin-associated adaptor protein-1 (AP-1) complex, which revealed a role of Rho3 in regulating Golgi/endosomal trafficking in fission yeast. Sip1, a conserved AP-1 accessory protein, recruits the AP-1 complex to the Golgi/endosomes through physical interaction. In this study, we showed that Sip1 is required for Rho3 localization. First, overexpression of rho3⁺ suppressed defective membrane trafficking associated with sip1-i4 mutant cells, including defects in vacuolar fusion, Golgi/endosomal trafficking and secretion. Notably, Sip1 interacted with Rho3, and GFP-Rho3, similar to Apm1-GFP, did not properly localize to the Golgi/endosomes in sip1-i4 mutant cells at 27°C. Interestingly, the C-terminal region of Sip1 is required for its localization to the Golgi/endosomes, because Sip1-i4-GFP protein failed to properly localize to Golgi/endosomes, whereas the fluorescence of Sip1ΔN mutant protein co-localized with that of FM4-64. Consistently, in the sip1-i4 mutant cells, which lack the C-terminal region of Sip1, binding between Apm1 and Rho3 was greatly impaired, presumably due to mislocalization of these proteins in the sip1-i4 mutant cells. Furthermore, the interaction between Apm1 and Rho3 as well as Rho3 localization to the Golgi/endosomes were significantly rescued in sip1-i4 mutant cells by the expression of Sip1ΔN. Taken together, these results suggest that Sip1 recruits Rho3 to the Golgi/endosomes through physical interaction and enhances the formation of the Golgi/endosome AP-1/Rho3 complex, thereby promoting crosstalk between AP-1 and Rho3 in the regulation of Golgi/endosomal trafficking in fission yeast.

The clathrin adaptor complexes as a paradigm for membrane-associated allostery.

The clathrin-associated adaptor protein (AP) complexes AP-1 and AP-2 are two members of a family of heterotetrameric assemblies that connect transmembrane protein cargo to vesicular coats. Cargo binding by AP-1 is activated by the small GTPase Arf1, while AP-2 is activated by the phosphoinositide PI(4,5)P2. The structures of both AP-1 and AP-2 have been determined in their locked and unlocked conformations. The structures show how different activators use different mechanisms to trigger similar large scale conformational rearrangements. The details of these mechanisms show how membrane docking and allosteric activation of AP complexes are intimately connected.

Cell type-specific Rab32 and Rab38 cooperate with the ubiquitous lysosome biogenesis machinery to synthesize specialized lysosome-related organelles.

Lysosome-related organelles (LROs) exist in specialized cells to serve specific functions and typically co-exist with conventional lysosomes. The biogenesis of LROs is known to utilize much of the common protein machinery used in the transport of integral membrane proteins to lysosomes. Consequently, an outstanding question in the field has been how specific cargoes are trafficked to LROs instead of lysosomes, particularly in cells that simultaneously produce both organelles. One LRO, the melanosome, is responsible for the production of the pigment melanin and has long been used as a model system to study the formation of specialized LROs. Importantly, melanocytes, where melanosomes are synthesized, are a cell type that also produces lysosomes and must therefore segregate traffic to each organelle. Two small GTPases, Rab32 and Rab38, are key proteins in the biogenesis of melanosomes and were recently shown to redirect the ubiquitous machinery-BLOC-2, AP-1 and AP-3-to traffic specialized cargoes to melanosomes in melanocytes. In addition, the study revealed Rab32 and Rab38 have both redundant and unique roles in the trafficking of melanin-producing enzymes and overall melanosome biogenesis. Here we review these findings, integrate them with previous knowledge on melanosome biogenesis and discuss their implications for biogenesis of other LROs.

AP-1/sigma1B-adaptin mediates endosomal synaptic vesicle recycling, learning and memory.

Synaptic vesicle recycling involves AP-2/clathrin-mediated endocytosis, but it is not known whether the endosomal pathway is also required. Mice deficient in the tissue-specific AP-1-sigma1B complex have impaired synaptic vesicle recycling in hippocampal synapses. The ubiquitously expressed AP-1-sigma1A complex mediates protein sorting between the trans-Golgi network and early endosomes. Vertebrates express three sigma1 subunit isoforms: A, B and C. The expressions of sigma1A and sigma1B are highest in the brain. Synaptic vesicle reformation in cultured neurons from sigma1B-deficient mice is reduced upon stimulation, and large endosomal intermediates accumulate. The sigma1B-deficient mice have reduced motor coordination and severely impaired long-term spatial memory. These data reveal a molecular mechanism for a severe human X-chromosome-linked mental retardation.

Laa1p, a conserved AP-1 accessory protein important for AP-1 localization in yeast.

AP-1 and Gga adaptors participate in clathrin-mediated protein transport between the trans-Golgi network and endosomes. Both adaptors contain homologous domains that act to recruit accessory proteins involved in clathrin-coated vesicle formation, but the spectrum of known adaptor-binding partners is limited. This study describes an evolutionarily conserved protein of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Laa1p (Yjl207cp), that interacts and functions specifically with AP-1. Deletion of LAA1, when combined with a conditional mutation in clathrin heavy chain or deletion of GGA genes, accentuated growth defects and increased disruption of clathrin-dependent alpha-factor maturation and transport of carboxypeptidase Y to the vacuole. In contrast, such genetic interactions were not observed between deletions of LAA1 and AP-1 subunit genes. Laa1p preferentially interacted with AP-1 compared with Gga proteins by glutathione S-transferase-fusion affinity binding and coimmunoprecipitations. Localization of AP-1 and Laa1p, but not Gga proteins, was highly sensitive to brefeldin A, an inhibitor of ADP-ribosylation factor (Arf) activation. Importantly, deletion of LAA1 caused mislocalization of AP-1, especially in cells at high density (postdiauxic shift), but it did not affect Gga protein distribution. Our results identify Laa1p as a new determinant of AP-1 localization, suggesting a model in which Laa1p and Arf cooperate to direct stable association of AP-1 with appropriate intracellular membranes.

Adaptor protein complex 1 mediates the transport of lysosomal proteins from a Golgi-like organelle to peripheral vacuoles in the primitive eukaryote Giardia lamblia.

Giardia lamblia is an early branching protist that possesses peripheral vacuoles (PVs) with characteristics of lysosome-like organelles, located underneath the plasma membrane. In more evolved cells, lysosomal protein trafficking is achieved by cargo recognition involving adaptor protein (AP) complexes that recognize specific amino acid sequences (tyrosine and/or dileucine motifs) within the cytoplasmic tail of membrane proteins. Previously, we reported that Giardia has a tyrosine-based sorting system, which mediates the targeting of a membrane-associated cysteine protease (encystation-specific cysteine protease, ESCP) to the PVs. Here, we show that Giardia AP1 mediates the transport of ESCP and the soluble acid phosphatase (AcPh) to the PVs. By using the yeast two-hybrid assay we found that the ESCP tyrosine-based motif interacts specifically with the medium subunit of AP1 (Gimicroa). Hemagglutinin-tagged Gimicroa colocalizes with ESCP and AcPh and coimmunoprecipitates with clathrin, suggesting that protein trafficking toward the PVs is clathrin-adaptin dependent. Targeted disruption of Gimicroa results in mislocalization of ESCP and AcPh but not of variant-specific surface proteins. Our results suggest that, unlike mammalian cells, only AP1 is involved in anterograde protein trafficking to the PVs in Giardia. Moreover, even though Giardia trophozoites lack a morphologically discernible Golgi apparatus, the presence of a clathrin-adaptor system suggests that this parasite possess a primitive secretory organelle capable of sorting proteins similar to that of more evolved cells.