We have investigated the requirement for Ca2+ in the fusion and content mixing of rat hepatocyte late endosomes and lysosomes in a cell-free system. Fusion to form hybrid organelles was inhibited by 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy) ethane-N,N,N′,N′-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA), but not by EGTA, and this inhibition was reversed by adding additional Ca2+. Fusion was also inhibited by methyl ester of EGTA (EGTA-AM), a membrane permeable, hydrolyzable ester of EGTA, and pretreatment of organelles with EGTA-AM showed that the chelation of lumenal Ca2+ reduced the amount of fusion. The requirement for Ca2+ for fusion was a later event than the requirement for a rab protein since the system became resistant to inhibition by GDP dissociation inhibitor at earlier times than it became resistant to BAPTA. We have developed a cell-free assay to study the reformation of lysosomes from late endosome–lysosome hybrid organelles that were isolated from the rat liver. The recovery of electron dense lysosomes was shown to require ATP and was inhibited by bafilomycin and EGTA-AM. The data support a model in which endocytosed Ca2+ plays a role in the fusion of late endosomes and lysosomes, the reformation of lysosomes, and the dynamic equilibrium of organelles in the late endocytic pathway.

Both heterotypic and homotypic fusion events are required to deliver endocytosed macromolecules to lysosomes and remodel late endocytic organelles. A trans-SNARE complex consisting of Q-SNAREs syntaxin 7, Vti1b and syntaxin 8 and the R-SNARE VAMP8 has been shown by others to be responsible for homotypic fusion of late endosomes. Using antibody inhibition experiments in rat liver cell-free systems, we confirmed this result, but found that the same Q-SNAREs can combine with an alternative R-SNARE, namely VAMP7, for heterotypic fusion between late endosomes and lysosomes. Co-immunoprecipitation demonstrated separate syntaxin 7 complexes with either VAMP7 or VAMP8 in solubilized rat liver membranes. Additionally, overexpression of the N-terminal domain of VAMP7, in cultured fibroblastic cells, inhibited the mixing of a preloaded lysosomal content marker with a marker delivered to late endosomes. These data show that combinatorial interactions of SNAREs determine whether late endosomes undergo homotypic or heterotypic fusion events.