Endocytic recycling of internalized transmembrane proteins is essential for many important physiological processes. Recent studies have revealed that retromer-related Sorting Nexin family (SNX)-Bin/Amphiphysin/Rvs (BAR) proteins can directly recognize cargoes like cation-independent mannose 6-phosphate receptor (CI-MPR) and Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R); however, it remains poorly understood how SNX-BARs select specific cargo proteins and whether they recognize additional ligands. Here, we discovered that the binding between SNX-BARs and CI-MPR or IGF1R is mediated by the phox-homology (PX) domain of SNX5 or SNX6 and a bipartite motif, termed SNX-BAR-binding motif (SBM), in the cargoes. Using this motif, we identified over 70 putative SNX-BAR ligands, many of which play critical roles in apoptosis, cell adhesion, signal transduction, or metabolite homeostasis. Remarkably, SNX-BARs could cooperate with both SNX27 and retromer in the recycling of ligands encompassing the SBM, PDZ-binding motif, or both motifs. Overall, our studies establish that SNX-BARs function as a direct cargo-selecting module for a large set of transmembrane proteins transiting the endosome, in addition to their roles in phospholipid recognition and biogenesis of tubular structures.have been linked with a variety of human diseases including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, cancer, and diabetes [4,5].Key protein machineries important for the sequence-dependent recycling include the evolutionarily conserved retromer complex (vacuolar protein sorting 35 [VPS35]/VPS26/VPS29 in higher eukaryotes) [6][7][8], the recently discovered retriever [9], the WASH complex [10][11][12], and members of the Sorting Nexin family (SNX) [13][14][15]. A subset of SNX proteins possessing a Bin/Amphiphysin/Rvs (BAR) domain, in addition to the phox-homology (PX) domain, have been linked with the retromer complex. The retromer-related SNX-BAR proteins (referred as SNX-BARs herein) SNX1, SNX2, SNX5, SNX6, and SNX32 form heterodimeric complexes and are critical for both endosome-to-plasma membrane recycling and endosome-to-TGN retrieval [16,17]. Current models suggest that SNX-BARs promote the endosome-to-plasma membrane recycling via associating with SNX27 and retromer, with the PDZ domain of SNX27 as the predominant cargo-recognition module [14]. For endosome-to-TGN trafficking, one of the best-characterized cargoes is cation-independent mannose 6-phosphate receptor (CI-MPR), which is necessary to deliver newly synthesized lysosomal hydrolases to the endosomal lumen and thus critical for lysosomal function [18]. However, previous studies have provided contradictory models regarding the role of retromer and SNX-BARs in the endosome-to-TGN retrieval of CI-MPR. Work from many different labs has initially supported the idea that retromer is necessary for the retrieval of CI-MPR, likely through a direct association with its cytoplasmic tail, in particular, the hydrophobic WLM motif [19][20][21]. However, recent work by Cullen and Steinberg has provi...