The involvement of clathrin and associated adaptor proteins in receptor recycling from endosomes back to the plasma membrane is controversial. We have used an in vitro assay to identify the molecular requirements for the formation of recycling vesicles. Cells expressing the asialoglycoprotein receptor H1, a typical recycling receptor, were surface biotinylated and then allowed to endocytose for 10 min. After stripping away surface-biotin, the cells were permeabilized and the cytosol washed away. In a temperature-, cytosol-, and nucleotide-dependent manner, the formation of sealed vesicles containing biotinylated H1 could be reconstituted. Vesicle formation was strongly inhibited upon immunodepletion of adaptor protein (AP)-1, but not of AP-2 or AP-3, from the cytosol, and was restored by readdition of purified AP-1. Vesicle formation was stimulated by supplemented clathrin, but inhibited by brefeldin A, consistent with the involvement of ARF1 and a brefeldin-sensitive guanine nucleotide exchange factor. The GTPase rab4, but not rab5, was required to generate endosome-derived vesicles. Depletion of rabaptin-5/rabex-5, a known interactor of both rab4 and ␥-adaptin, stimulated and addition of the purified protein strongly inhibited vesicle production. The results indicate that recycling is mediated by AP-1/clathrin-coated vesicles and regulated by rab4 and rabaptin-5/rabex-5.
INTRODUCTIONEarly endosomes are a major sorting station for proteins and membranes in eukaryotic cells (Gruenberg, 2001;Maxfield and McGraw, 2004). They receive material from the cell surface by endocytosis and from the exocytic pathway via the trans-Golgi network (TGN), and they distribute it further to late endosomes and back to the TGN and the plasma membrane. Transport receptors like the transferrin receptor, the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor, and the asialoglycoprotein (ASGP) receptor cycle continuously between the plasma membrane and early endosomes (Spiess, 1990;Trowbridge et al., 1993). Receptor-positive early endosomes can be subdivided into sorting endosomes and recycling endosomes (or endocytic recycling compartment, ERC). Primary endocytic vesicles fuse to sorting endosomes where ligands dissociate from their receptors because of a reduced internal pH. The receptors exit into tubular membranes that form recycling endosomes, whereas the ligands with the main fluid volume mature to late endosomes ("geometrybased sorting"; Maxfield and McGraw, 2004). There seem to be two main recycling pathways from early endosomes to the plasma membrane: a fast one directly from sorting endosomes and a slower one via recycling endosomes (Sheff et al., 1999;Hao and Maxfield, 2000;.The mechanisms to generate endosome-derived recycling vesicles are not clear, because there are seemingly contradictory findings. In general, formation of transport vesicles between organelles of the endocytic and secretory pathways requires cytosolic coat proteins to be recruited at the membrane of the donor compartment. Among the established coat complexes, clathr...