scholarly journals VPS18 recruits VPS41 to the human HOPS complex via a RING-RING interaction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morag R. Hunter ◽  
Edward J. Scourfield ◽  
Edward Emmott ◽  
Stephen C. Graham

ABSTRACTEukaryotic cells use conserved multisubunit membrane tethering complexes, including CORVET and HOPS, to control the fusion of endomembranes. These complexes have been extensively studied in yeast, but to date there have been far fewer studies of metazoan CORVET and HOPS. Both of these complexes comprise six subunits: a common four-subunit core and two unique subunits. Once assembled, these complexes function to recognise specific endosomal membrane markers and facilitate SNARE-mediated membrane fusion. CORVET promotes the homotypic fusion of early endosomes, while HOPS promotes the fusion of lysosomes to late endosomes and autophagosomes. Many of the subunits of both CORVET and HOPS contain putative C-terminal zinc-finger domains. Here, the contribution of these domains to the assembly of the human CORVET and HOPS complexes has been examined. Using biochemical techniques, we demonstrate that the zinc-containing RING domains of human VPS18 and VPS41 interact directly to form a stable heterodimer. In cells, these RING domains are able to integrate into endogenous HOPS, showing that the VPS18 RING domain is required to recruit VPS41 to the core complex subunits. Importantly, this mechanism is not conserved throughout eukaryotes, as yeast Vps41 does not contain a C-terminal zinc-finger motif. The subunit analogous to VPS41 in human CORVET is VPS8, in which the RING domain has an additional C-terminal segment that is predicted to be disordered. Both the RING and disordered C-terminal domains are required for integration of VPS8 into endogenous CORVET complexes, suggesting that HOPS and CORVET recruit VPS41 and VPS8 via distinct molecular interactions.

2017 ◽  
Vol 474 (21) ◽  
pp. 3615-3626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morag R. Hunter ◽  
Edward J. Scourfield ◽  
Edward Emmott ◽  
Stephen C. Graham

Eukaryotic cells use conserved multisubunit membrane tethering complexes, including CORVET (class C core vacuole/endosome tethering) and HOPS (homotypic fusion and vacuole protein sorting), to control the fusion of endomembranes. These complexes have been extensively studied in yeast, but to date there have been far fewer studies of metazoan CORVET and HOPS. Both of these complexes comprise six subunits: a common four-subunit core and two unique subunits. Once assembled, these complexes function to recognise specific endosomal membrane markers and facilitate SNARE-mediated membrane fusion. CORVET promotes the homotypic fusion of early endosomes, while HOPS promotes the fusion of lysosomes to late endosomes and autophagosomes. Many of the subunits of both CORVET and HOPS contain putative C-terminal zinc-finger domains. Here, the contribution of these domains to the assembly of the human CORVET and HOPS complexes has been examined. Using biochemical techniques, we demonstrate that the zinc-containing RING (really interesting new gene) domains of human VPS18 and VPS41 interact directly to form a stable heterodimer. In cells, these RING domains are able to integrate into endogenous HOPS, showing that the VPS18 RING domain is required to recruit VPS41 to the core complex subunits. Importantly, this mechanism is not conserved throughout eukaryotes, as yeast Vps41 does not contain a C-terminal zinc-finger motif. The subunit analogous to VPS41 in human CORVET is VPS8, in which the RING domain has an additional C-terminal segment that is predicted to be disordered. Both the RING and disordered C-terminal domains are required for integration of VPS8 into endogenous CORVET complexes, suggesting that HOPS and CORVET recruit VPS41 and VPS8 via distinct molecular interactions.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frode Miltzow Skjeldal ◽  
Linda Hofstad Haugen ◽  
Duarte Mateus ◽  
Dominik Frei ◽  
Oddmund Bakke

AbstractRab5 and Rab7a are the main determinants of early and late endosomes and are important regulators of endosomal progression. The transport from early endosomes to late endosome seems to be regulated through an endosomal maturation switch where Rab5 is exchanged with Rab7a on the same endosome. Here we provide new insight into the mechanism of endosomal maturation where we have discovered a stepwise Rab5 detachment, sequentially regulated by Rab7a. The initial detachment of Rab5 is Rab7a independent and demonstrate a diffusion-like exchange between cytosol and endosomal membrane, and the second phase is slower where Rab5 converges into a specific domain that specifically detaches as a Rab5 indigenous endosome. Consequently, we show that early endosomal maturation regulated through the Rab5 to Rab7a switch induce the formation of a new fully functional early endosome. Progression through a stepwise early endosomal maturation regulates the direction of the transport and concomitantly regulates the homeostasis of early endosomes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Benjamin G. Butt ◽  
Edward J. Scourfield ◽  
Stephen C. Graham

Background: The multi-subunit homotypic fusion and vacuole protein sorting (HOPS) membrane-tethering complex is involved in regulating the fusion of late endosomes and autophagosomes with lysosomes in eukaryotes. The C-terminal regions of several HOPS components have been shown to be required for correct complex assembly, including the C-terminal really interesting new gene (RING) zinc finger domains of HOPS components VPS18 and VPS41. We sought to structurally characterise the putative C-terminal zinc finger domain of VPS39, which we hypothesised may be important for binding of VPS39 to cellular partners or to other HOPS components. Methods: We recombinantly expressed, purified and solved the crystal structure of the proposed zinc-binding region of VPS39. Results: In the structure, this region forms an anti-parallel β-hairpin that is incorporated into a homotetrameric eight-stranded β-barrel. However, the fold is stabilised by coordination of zinc ions by residues from the purification tag and an intramolecular disulphide bond between two predicted zinc ligands. Conclusions: We solved the structure of the VPS39 C-terminal domain adopting a non-native fold. Our work highlights the risk of non-native folds when purifying small zinc-containing domains with hexahistidine tags. However, the non-native structure we observe may have implications for rational protein design.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Benjamin G. Butt ◽  
Edward J. Scourfield ◽  
Stephen C. Graham

Background: The multi-subunit homotypic fusion and vacuole protein sorting (HOPS) membrane-tethering complex is involved in regulating the fusion of late endosomes and autophagosomes with lysosomes in eukaryotes. The C-terminal regions of several HOPS components have been shown to be required for correct complex assembly, including the C-terminal really interesting new gene (RING) zinc finger domains of HOPS components VPS18 and VPS41. We sought to structurally characterise the putative C-terminal zinc finger domain of VPS39, which we hypothesised may be important for binding of VPS39 to cellular partners or to other HOPS components. Methods: We recombinantly expressed, purified and solved the crystal structure of the proposed zinc-binding region of VPS39. Results: In the structure, this region forms an anti-parallel β-hairpin that is incorporated into a homotetrameric eight-stranded β-barrel. However, the fold is stabilised by coordination of zinc ions by residues from the purification tag and an intramolecular disulphide bond between two predicted zinc ligands. Conclusions: We solved the structure of the VPS39 C-terminal domain adopting a non-native fold. Our work highlights the risk of non-native folds when purifying small zinc-containing domains with hexahistidine tags. However, the non-native structure we observe may have implications for rational protein design.


1996 ◽  
Vol 133 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Aniento ◽  
F Gu ◽  
R G Parton ◽  
J Gruenberg

In this paper, we show that beta COP is present on endosomes and is required for the formation of vesicles which mediate transport from early to late endosomes. Both the association of beta COP to endosomal membranes as well as transport vesicle formation depend on the lumenal pH. We find that epsilon COP, but not gamma COP, is also associated to endosomes, and that this association is also lumenal pH dependent. Our data, thus, indicate that a subset of COPs is part of the mechanism regulating endosomal membrane transport, and that membrane association of these COPs is controlled by the acidic properties of early endosomes, presumably via a trans-membrane pH sensor.


2021 ◽  
pp. jcs.254185
Author(s):  
Frode Miltzow Skjeldal ◽  
Linda Hofstad Haugen ◽  
Duarte Mateus ◽  
Dominik M. Frei ◽  
Anna Vik Rødseth ◽  
...  

Rab5 and Rab7a are the main determinants of early and late endosomes and are important regulators of endosomal progression. The transport from early endosomes to late endosome seems to be regulated through an endosomal maturation switch where Rab5 is gradually exchanged with Rab7a on the same endosome. Here we provide new insight into the mechanism of endosomal maturation where we have discovered a stepwise Rab5 detachment, sequentially regulated by Rab7a. The initial detachment of Rab5 is Rab7a independent and demonstrate a diffusion-like exchange between cytosol and endosomal membrane, and a second phase where Rab5 converges into specific domains that detaches as a Rab5 indigenous endosome. Consequently, we show that early endosomal maturation regulated through the Rab5 to Rab7a switch induce the formation of new fully functional rab5 positive early endosomes. Progression through a stepwise early endosomal maturation regulates the direction of the transport and concomitantly regulates the homeostasis of early endosomes.


Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Polanco ◽  
Gabriel Rhys Hand ◽  
Adam Briner ◽  
Chuanzhou Li ◽  
Jürgen Götz

AbstractThe microtubule-associated protein tau has a critical role in Alzheimer’s disease and other tauopathies. A proposed pathomechanism in the progression of tauopathies is the trans-synaptic spreading of tau seeds, with a role for exosomes which are secretory nanovesicles generated by late endosomes. Our previous work demonstrated that brain-derived exosomes isolated from tau transgenic rTg4510 mice encapsulate tau seeds with the ability to induce tau aggregation in recipient cells. We had also shown that exosomes can hijack the endosomal pathway to spread through interconnected neurons. Here, we reveal how tau seeds contained within internalized exosomes exploit mechanisms of lysosomal degradation to escape the endosome and induce tau aggregation in the cytosol of HEK293T-derived ‘tau biosensor cells’. We found that the majority of the exosome-containing endosomes fused with lysosomes to form endolysosomes. Exosomes induced their permeabilization, irrespective of the presence of tau seeds, or whether the exosomal preparations originated from mouse brains or HEK293T cells. We also found that permeabilization is a conserved mechanism, operating in both non-neuronal tau biosensor cells and primary neurons. However, permeabilization of endolysosomes only occurred in a small fraction of cells, which supports the notion that permeabilization occurs by a thresholded mechanism. Interestingly, tau aggregation was only induced in cells that exhibited permeabilization, presenting this as an escape route of exosomal tau seeds into the cytosol. Overexpression of RAB7, which is required for the formation of endolysosomes, strongly increased tau aggregation. Conversely, inhibition of lysosomal function with alkalinizing agents, or by knocking-down RAB7, decreased tau aggregation. Together, we conclude that the enzymatic activities of lysosomes permeabilize exosomal and endosomal membranes, thereby facilitating access of exosomal tau seeds to cytosolic tau to induce its aggregation. Our data underscore the importance of endosomal membrane integrity in mechanisms of cellular invasion by misfolded proteins that are resistant to lysosomal degradation.


1993 ◽  
Vol 177 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Romagnoli ◽  
C Layet ◽  
J Yewdell ◽  
O Bakke ◽  
R N Germain

Invariant chain (Ii), which associates with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules in the endoplasmic reticulum, contains a targeting signal for transport to intracellular vesicles in the endocytic pathway. The characteristics of the target vesicles and the relationship between Ii structure and class II localization in distinct endosomal subcompartments have not been well defined. We demonstrate here that in transiently transfected COS cells expressing high levels of the p31 or p41 forms of Ii, uncleaved Ii is transported to and accumulates in transferrin-accessible (early) endosomes. Coexpressed MHC class II is also found in this same compartment. These early endosomes show altered morphology and a slower rate of content movement to later parts of the endocytic pathway. At more moderate levels of Ii expression, or after removal of a highly conserved region in the cytoplasmic tail of Ii, coexpressed class II molecules are found primarily in vesicles with the characteristics of late endosomes/prelysosomes. The Ii chains in these late endocytic vesicles have undergone proteolytic cleavage in the lumenal region postulated to control MHC class II peptide binding. These data indicate that the association of class II with Ii results in initial movement to early endosomes. At high levels of Ii expression, egress to later endocytic compartments is delayed and class II-Ii complexes accumulate together with endocytosed material. At lower levels of Ii expression, class II-Ii complexes are found primarily in late endosomes/prelysosomes. These data provide evidence that the route of class II transport to the site of antigen processing and loading involves movement through early endosomes to late endosomes/prelysosomes. Our results also reveal an unexpected ability of intact Ii to modify the structure and function of the early endosomal compartment, which may play a role in regulating this processing pathway.


2008 ◽  
Vol 283 (36) ◽  
pp. 24871-24880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Betty Lamothe ◽  
Alejandro D. Campos ◽  
William K. Webster ◽  
Ambily Gopinathan ◽  
Lana Hur ◽  
...  

1992 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 1139-1152
Author(s):  
J.W. Kok ◽  
K. Hoekstra ◽  
S. Eskelinen ◽  
D. Hoekstra

Recycling pathways of the sphingolipid glucosylceramide were studied by employing a fluorescent analog of glucosylceramide, 6(-)[N-(7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazol-4-yl)amino]hexanoylglucosyl sphingosine (C6-NBD-glucosylceramide). Direct recycling of the glycolipid from early endosomes to the plasma membrane occurs, as could be shown after treating the cells with the microtubule-disrupting agent nocodazole, which causes inhibition of the glycolipid's trafficking from peripheral early endosomes to centrally located late endosomes. When the microtubuli are intact, at least part of the glucosylceramide is transported from early to late endosomes together with ricin. Interestingly, also N-(lissamine rhodamine B sulfonyl)phosphatidylethanolamine (N-Rh-PE), a membrane marker of the fluid-phase endocytic pathway, is transported to this endosomal compartment. However, in contrast to both ricin and N-Rh-PE, the glucosylceramide can escape from this organelle and recycle to the plasma membrane. Monensin and brefeldin A have little effect on this recycling pathway, which would exclude extensive involvement of early Golgi compartments in recycling. Hence, the small fraction of the glycolipid that colocalizes with transferrin (Tf) in the Golgi area might directly recycle via the trans-Golgi network. When the intracellular pH was lowered to 5.5, recycling was drastically reduced, in accordance with the impeding effect of low intracellular pH on vesicular transport during endocytosis and in the biosynthetic pathway. Our results thus demonstrate the existence of at least two recycling pathways for glucosylceramide and indicate the relevance of early endosomes in recycling of both proteins and lipids.


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