Endocytosis has a crucial role during Notch signalling after the asymmetric division of fly sensory organ precursors (SOPs): directional signalling is mediated by differential endocytosis of the ligand Delta and the Notch effector Sanpodo in one of the SOP daughters, pIIb. Here we show a new mechanism of directional signalling on the basis of the trafficking of Delta and Notch molecules already internalized in the SOP and subsequently targeted to the other daughter cell, pIIa. Internalized Delta and Notch traffic to an endosome marked by the protein Sara. During SOP mitosis, Sara endosomes containing Notch and Delta move to the central spindle and then to pIIa. Subsequently, in pIIa (but not in pIIb) Notch appears cleaved in Sara endosomes in a gamma-secretase- and Delta internalization-dependent manner, indicating that the release of the intracellular Notch tail to activate Notch target genes has occurred. We thus uncover a new mechanism to bias signalling even before asymmetric endocytosis of Sanpodo and Delta takes place in the daughter cells: already during SOP mitosis, asymmetric targeting of Delta and Notch-containing Sara endosomes will increase Notch signalling in pIIa and decrease it in pIIb.
Endocytosed membrane components are recycled to the cell surface either directly from early/sorting endosomes or after going through the endocytic recycling compartment (ERC). Studying recycling mechanisms is difficult, in part due to the fact that specific tools to inhibit this process are scarce. In this study, we have characterized a novel widely expressed protein, named Rififylin (Rffl) for RING Finger and FYVE-like domain-containing protein, that, when overexpressed in HeLa cells, induced the condensation of transferrin receptor-, Rab5-, and Rab11-positive recycling tubulovesicular membranes in the perinuclear region. Internalized transferrin was able to access these condensed endosomes but its exit from this compartment was delayed. Using deletion mutants, we show that the carboxy-terminal RING finger of Rffl is dispensable for its action. In contrast, the amino-terminal domain of Rffl, which shows similarities with the phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate-binding FYVE finger, is critical for the recruitment of Rffl to recycling endocytic membranes and for the inhibition of recycling, albeit in a manner that is independent of PtdIns(3)-kinase activity. Rffl overexpression represents a novel means to inhibit recycling that will help to understand the mechanisms involved in recycling from the ERC to the plasma membrane.
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