Research paperSignal dependent transport of a membrane cargo from early endosomes to recycling endosomes

Many membrane cargoes undergo endocytosis and intracellular recycling to the plasma membrane via the early endosomes and the recycling endosomes. However whether specific sorting signals are required for transport from early endosomes to recycling endosomes is not known and the current view is that transport to the recycling endosomes is by a passive default process. Here we show that the cytoplasmic tail of the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) contains discrete signals for endocytosis and for sorting to the recycling endosomes. The FcRn cytoplasmic tail has previously been shown to contain the unusual WISL motif for AP2/clathrin-mediated endocytosis. By analysing FcRn mutants and CD8/FcRn chimeric molecules, we have identified an extended WISL sequence (GLPAPWISL) which promotes sorting from the early endosomes to the recycling endosomes. The insertion of GLPAPWISL into the cytoplasmic tail of CD8 resulted in efficient endocytosis and trafficking to the recycling endosomes, with only low levels detected in the late endosomes. Replacement of the highly conserved GLAPAP sequence within the GLPAPWISL motif with alanine residues resulted in endocytosis of the CD8/FcRn chimera to the early endosomes which was then trafficked predominantly to the late endosomes rather than the recycling endosomes. These studies demonstrate that signals within the cytoplasmic domains of membrane cargo can mediate active transport from early to recycling endosomes.