At the trans-Golgi network, clathrin coats containing AP-1 adaptor complexes are formed in an ARF1-dependent manner, generating vesicles transporting cargo proteins to endosomes. The mechanism of site-specific targeting of AP-1 and the role of cargo are poorly understood. We have developed an in vitro assay to study the recruitment of purified AP-1 adaptors to chemically defined liposomes presenting peptides corresponding to tyrosine-based sorting motifs. AP-1 recruitment was found to be dependent on myristoylated ARF1, GTP or nonhydrolyzable GTPanalogs, tyrosine signals, and small amounts of phosphoinositides, most prominently phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, in the absence of any additional cytosolic or membrane bound proteins. AP-1 from cytosol could be recruited to a tyrosine signal independently of the lipid composition, but the rate of recruitment was increased by phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate. The results thus indicate that cargo proteins are involved in coat recruitment and that the local lipid composition contributes to specifying the site of vesicle formation.
INTRODUCTIONSorting of membrane proteins is generally mediated by cytosolic coats which serve the dual role of creating a scaffold to form coated buds and vesicles and of selectively concentrating cargo proteins by interacting with cytosolic signals. The best studied systems are COPI in intra-Golgi and Golgito-endoplasmic reticulum (ER) transport, COPII in ER-toGolgi transport, and clathrin with associated adaptor proteins in the formation of vesicles at the plasma membrane, the trans-Golgi network (TGN) and endosomes. There are different types of clathrin-associated adaptor proteins (APs), heterotetrameric complexes composed of two ϳ100-kDa adaptins, a ϳ50-kDa medium (), and a ϳ20-kDa small () chain (Robinson and Bonifacino, 2001). The adaptor complexes form the inner layer of the coat that specifies the site of coat formation and interacts with cargo molecules. AP-1 adaptors are primarily functional at the TGN generating vesicles destined for endosomes but have also been found on sorting endosomes and implicated in (basolateral) recycling to the plasma membrane (Futter et al., 1998). AP-2 adaptors are found at the plasma membrane to form coated vesicles for endocytosis. AP-3 adaptors are involved in lysosomal transport from the TGN or endosomes. The different adaptor complexes recognize similar tyrosine and dileucine signals in cargo molecules, and in many cases the same signals are recognized by several adaptor types (Bonifacino and Dell'Angelica, 1999;Heilker et al., 1999).Recruitment of the different coats to their specific membranes appears to involve common basic mechanisms. With the exception of AP-2/clathrin coats, all the coats mentioned above require small GTPases that are activated from their soluble GDP-bound to their membrane-associated GTPbound form by a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) at the correct membrane. For COPII coats in yeast, the GTPase Sar1p is activated by the GEF Sec12p in the ER membrane. In an ...