Calnexin is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) lectin that mediates protein folding on the rough ER. Calnexin also interacts with ER calcium pumps that localize to the mitochondria-associated membrane (MAM). Depending on ER homeostasis, varying amounts of calnexin target to the plasma membrane. However, no regulated sorting mechanism is so far known for calnexin. Our results now describe how the interaction of calnexin with the cytosolic sorting protein PACS-2 distributes calnexin between the rough ER, the MAM, and the plasma membrane. Under control conditions, more than 80% of calnexin localizes to the ER, with the majority on the MAM. PACS-2 knockdown disrupts the calnexin distribution within the ER and increases its levels on the cell surface. Phosphorylation by protein kinase CK2 of two calnexin cytosolic serines (Ser554/564) reduces calnexin binding to PACS-2. Consistent with this, a Ser554/564 ➞ Asp phosphomimic mutation partially reproduces PACS-2 knockdown by increasing the calnexin signal on the cell surface and reducing it on the MAM. PACS-2 knockdown does not reduce retention of other ER markers. Therefore, our results suggest that the phosphorylation state of the calnexin cytosolic domain and its interaction with PACS-2 sort this chaperone between domains of the ER and the plasma membrane.
INTRODUCTIONA principal function of the ER is chaperone-mediated oxidative folding of newly synthesized proteins, thought to occur close to the translocon on the rER with the help of chaperones (Chen and Helenius, 2000). Recent research has started to view the ER as a multifunctional organelle that comprises distinct domains devoted to specific tasks. Examples are oxidative protein folding that occurs on the rough ER (rER) or lipid synthesis that is associated with the mitochondria-associated membrane (MAM; Vance, 1990;Borgese et al., 2006;Levine and Loewen, 2006). It is also emerging that many ER proteins, including chaperones, localize to multiple ER membrane domains, where they perform distinct functions. Examples are the chaperones calnexin (CNX), calreticulin and ERp44, which interact with the MAM-enriched IP 3 R and SERCA2b, respectively (John et al., 1998;Roderick et al., 2000;Higo et al., 2005).Coat-and receptor-based retention and retrieval mechanisms ensure that ER folding chaperones and oxidoreductases localize to the ER (Teasdale and Jackson, 1996;Duden, 2003;Michelsen et al., 2005). However, in addition to multiple domains of the ER, many ER chaperones such as BiP/ GRP78, PDI , and CNX have also been found on the plasma membrane, suggesting that their intracellular retention and trafficking along the secretory pathway varies (Wiest et al., 1995;Mezghrani et al., 2000;Arap et al., 2004;Misra et al., 2006). For instance, high levels of CNX characterize the plasma membrane of immature thymocytes. Conversely, ER stress can reduce surface CNX (Wiest et al., 1995;Okazaki et al., 2000). Changing the amount of CNX on the plasma membrane could affect cell surface properties and might have implications on phagocytosi...