Here we demonstrate that the rate of ligand-induced endocytosis of CCR5 in leukocytes and expression systems is significantly slower than that of CXCR4 and requires prolonged agonist treatment, suggesting that these two receptors use distinct mechanisms. We show that the C-terminal domain of CCR5 is the determinant of its slow endocytosis phenotype. When the C-tail of CXCR4 was exchanged for that of CCR5, the resulting CXCR4-CCR5 (X4-R5) chimera displayed a CCR5-like trafficking phenotype. We found that the palmitoylated cysteine residues in this domain anchor CCR5 to plasma membrane rafts. CXCR4 and a C-terminally truncated CCR5 mutant (CCR5-KRFX) lacking these cysteines are not raft associated and are endocytosed by a clathrin-dependent pathway. Genetic inhibition of clathrin-mediated endocytosis demonstrated that a significant fraction of ligand-occupied CCR5 trafficked by clathrin-independent routes into caveolin-containing vesicular structures. Thus, the palmitoylated C-tail of CCR5 is the major determinant of its raft association and endocytic itineraries, differentiating it from CXCR4 and other chemokine receptors. This novel feature of CCR5 may modulate its signaling potential and could explain its preferential use by HIV for person-to-person transmission of disease.
INTRODUCTIONClathrin-mediated endocytosis has been the general paradigm and the most extensively studied mechanism of ligand-induced receptor internalization (Schmid, 1997). However, in recent years, alternative clathrin-independent mechanisms have been described for the uptake of viruses, toxins, and receptors that lack conventional endocytic signals ). Among the latter mechanisms, cholesterol-rich structures called caveolae (Anderson, 1998;Kurzchalia and Parton, 1999) and lipid rafts have been implicated in diverse membrane processes including the assembly of signaling receptor complexes (Simons and Toomre, 2000). Endocytosis of some receptors such as the ␣ subunit of the IL-2 receptor (Tac antigen) and MHC-I, which lack canonical endocytic signals, follow distinct itineraries regulated by the small GTP binding protein, ADP-ribosylation factor 6 (Arf6; Radhakrishna and Donaldson, 1997;Sugita et al., 1999). Clathrin-independent endocytic itineraries are slower than the clathrin-dependent pathway and are functionally relevant in that the long residence time of occupied receptors at the cell surface may enable coupling to multiple signaling pathways.Article published online ahead of print. Mol. Biol. Cell 10.1091/ mbc.E02-11-0714. Article and publication date are available at www.molbiolcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1091/mbc.E02-11-0714. † Corresponding author. E-mail address: aradhana@helix.nih.gov or sv1s@nih.gov. § Present address: INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier, Université du Québec, 531 des Prairies, Laval (Québec), Canada H7V 1B7. Abbreviations used: AOP-RANTES, aminooxypentane-regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted; APC, allophycocyanin; Arf6, ADP-ribosylation factor 6; CCV, clathrin-coated vesicles; CHO, Chinese hamster o...