The effect of protein kinase inhibitors on transferrin receptor (TR) internalization was examined in HeLa, A431, 3T3-L1 cells, and primary chicken embryo fibroblasts. We show that TR endocytosis is not affected by tyrosine kinase or protein kinase C inhibitors, but is inhibited by one serine/threonine kinase inhibitor, H-89. Inhibition occurred within 15 min, was completely reversible after H-89 withdrawal, and was specific for endocytosis rather than pinocytosis since a TR mutant lacking an internalization signal was not affected. Interestingly, H-89 also inhibited the internalization of a TR chimera containing the major histocompatibility complex class II invariant chain cytoplasmic tail, indicating that the effect was not specific for the TR. Since H-89 inhibits a number of kinases, we employed a permeabilized cell endocytosis assay to further characterize the kinase. In permeabilized 3T3-L1 cells, addition of pseudosubstrate inhibitor peptides of casein kinase II (CKII) blocked TR internalization by more than 50%, whereas pseudosubstrates of cyclic AMP-dependent kinase A, protein kinase C, and casein kinase I had no effect. Furthermore, addition of purified CKII to the cell-free reactions containing CKII pseudosubstrates reversed the endocytosis block, suggesting that CKII or a CKII-like activity is required for constitutive endocytosis.
The transferrin receptor (TR)1 binds the serum iron transport protein transferrin (Tf), internalizes through clathrincoated pits, and facilitates Tf iron release in the sorting endosome. Efficient TR internalization requires a cytoplasmic tail tyrosine-containing motif, Tyr-Thr-Arg-Phe (1, 2). Studies by Ohno et al. (3) using yeast two-hybrid analysis demonstrate that the TR cytoplasmic tail signal interacts with one of the four subunits of the AP-2 adaptor complex, the 2 chain. This interaction provides a mechanism for promoting TR clustering in clathrin-coated pits and subsequent internalization. The AP-2 adaptor complex is also required for clathrin recruitment (4 -6) and lattice assembly (7) and, together with its direct interaction with receptor cytoplasmic tails, links the cell surface receptors to the clathrin-based endocytic machinery (reviewed in Refs. 8 and 9).Despite the extensive characterization of many of the proteins involved in endocytosis, little is known about how the clathrin-based endocytic machinery is regulated. What is evident, however, is endocytosis via clathrin-coated pits is blocked during mitosis (10), starting at prophase and continuing through telophase (11,12). In A431 cells, the mitotic block appears to arrest clathrin assembly at various stages of invagination (13), suggesting that the continuous activity of an enzyme (or enzymes) is required for vesicle formation (reviewed in Ref. 14). Using in vitro reconstitution assays, mitotic cytosol has been shown to inhibit invagination of clathrin-coated pits and one of the factors responsible is cdc2 kinase (15).The role of kinases in receptor trafficking has been demonstrated in studies on the asia...