In response to epidermal growth factor (EGF), the EGF receptor is endocytosed and degraded. A substantial lag period exists between endocytosis and degradation, suggesting that endocytosis is more than a simple negative feedback. Phospholipase D (PLD), which has been implicated in vesicle formation in the Golgi, is activated in response to EGF and other growth factors. We report here that EGF receptor endocytosis is dependent upon PLD and the PLD1 regulators, protein kinase C ␣ and RalA. EGF-induced receptor degradation is accelerated by overexpression of either wild-type PLD1 or PLD2 and retarded by overexpression of catalytically inactive mutants of either PLD1 or PLD2. EGF-induced activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase, which is dependent upon receptor endocytosis, is also dependent upon PLD. These data suggest a role for PLD in signaling that facilitates receptor endocytosis.Phospholipase D (PLD) is a widely distributed enzyme that hydrolyzes phosphatidylcholine, a major phospholipid in the cell membrane, to form phosphatidic acid (PA) and choline. PLD activity, which can be detected in virtually all cell types as well as in most cellular organelles, is believed to play an important role in the regulation of cell physiology by extracellular signals, such as hormones, neurotransmitters, growth factors, and cytokines (8). Multiple PLD activities have been characterized in mammalian cells, and more recently, two mammalian PLD genes (PLD1 and PLD2) have been cloned (6,11,18,22,30). Recent studies indicate that PLD has many different functions in signal transduction, vesicle trafficking, and cytoskeletal dynamics (21). Vesicle budding in the Golgi network was shown to be mediated in part by Arf family GTPases (35). The discovery that Arf family GTPases regulate PLD activity (3, 5) suggested the possibility that PLD was also involved in vesicle transport. Consistent with this idea, PA formation by PLD-mediated hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine has been reported to be required for the formation of Golgi vesicles (20) and for the transport of vesicles from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi complex (1). PLD has also been reported to stimulate the release of secretory vesicles from the trans-Golgi network (4). It was therefore proposed that the role that Arf plays in vesicle budding in the Golgi network is to regulate PLD activity and PA production (15,33,34). However, there is controversy on this point (2, 40, 41), and it still is not clear how PLD and its primary metabolite, PA, might contribute to vesicle formation.PLD activity is elevated in response to many extracellular signals (8). Our laboratory has investigated the role PLD plays in the transduction of intracellular signals initiated by epidermal growth factor (EGF) (13,23,38). In response to EGF, the EGF receptor is internalized and then degraded (10). The internalization of the EGF receptor is a process that involves endocytic vesicles (10). Since PLD has been implicated in vesicle formation and membrane traffic as discussed above, we hypothesi...