Endosomal PI(3)P regulation by the COMMD/CCDC22/CCDC93 (CCC) complex controls membrane protein recycling.

Protein recycling through the endolysosomal system relies on molecular assemblies that interact with cargo proteins, membranes, and effector molecules. Among them, the COMMD/CCDC22/CCDC93 (CCC) complex plays a critical role in recycling events. While CCC is closely associated with retriever, a cargo recognition complex, its mechanism of action remains unexplained. Herein we show that CCC and retriever are closely linked through sharing a common subunit (VPS35L), yet the integrity of CCC, but not retriever, is required to maintain normal endosomal levels of phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PI(3)P). CCC complex depletion leads to elevated PI(3)P levels, enhanced recruitment and activation of WASH (an actin nucleation promoting factor), excess endosomal F-actin and trapping of internalized receptors. Mechanistically, we find that CCC regulates the phosphorylation and endosomal recruitment of the PI(3)P phosphatase MTMR2. Taken together, we show that the regulation of PI(3)P levels by the CCC complex is critical to protein recycling in the endosomal compartment.

Collapsin response mediator protein-2 (Crmp2) regulates trafficking by linking endocytic regulatory proteins to dynein motors.

Endocytosis is a conserved cellular process in which nutrients, lipids, and receptors are internalized and transported to early endosomes, where they are sorted and either channeled to degradative pathways or recycled to the plasma membrane. MICAL-L1 and EHD1 are important regulatory proteins that control key endocytic transport steps. However, the precise mechanisms by which they mediate transport, and particularly the mode by which they connect to motor proteins, have remained enigmatic. Here we have identified the collapsin response mediator protein-2 (Crmp2) as an interaction partner of MICAL-L1 in non-neuronal cells. Crmp2 interacts with tubulin dimers and kinesin and negatively regulates dynein-based transport in neuronal cells, but its expression and function in non-neuronal cells have remained poorly characterized. Upon Crmp2 depletion, we observed dramatic relocalization of internalized transferrin (Tf) from peripheral vesicles to the endocytic recycling compartment (ERC), similar to the effect of depleting either MICAL-L1 or EHD1. Moreover, Tf relocalization to the ERC could be inhibited by interfering with microtubule polymerization, consistent with a role for uncoupled motor protein-based transport upon depletion of Crmp2, MICAL-L1, or EHD1. Finally, transfection of dynamitin, a component of the dynactin complex whose overexpression inhibits dynein activity, prevented the relocalization of internalized Tf to the ERC upon depletion of Crmp2, MICAL-L1, or EHD1. These data provide the first trafficking regulatory role for Crmp2 in non-neuronal cells and support a model in which Crmp2 is an important endocytic regulatory protein that links MICAL-L1·EHD1-based vesicular transport to dynein motors.