After endocytosis, a selective endocytic recycling process returns many endocytosed molecules back to the plasma membrane. The RAB-10/Rab10 GTPase is known to be a key recycling regulator for specific cargo molecules. New evidence, focused on C. elegans RAB-10 in polarized epithelia, points to a key role of RAB-10 in the regulation of endosomal phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P2) levels. In turn, PI(4,5)P2 levels strongly influence the recruitment of many peripheral membrane proteins, including those important for vesicle budding through their membrane bending activities. Part of the effect of RAB-10 on endosomal PI(4,5)P2 is through its newly identified effector CNT-1, a predicted GTPase activating protein (GAP) of the small GTPase ARF-6/Arf6. In mammals PI(4,5)P2 generating enzymes are known Arf6 effectors. In C. elegans we found that RAB-10, CNT-1 and ARF-6 are present on the same endosomes, that RAB-10 recruits CNT-1 to endosomes, and that loss of CNT-1 or RAB-10 leads to overaccumulation of endosomal PI(4,5)P2, presumably via hyperactivation of endosomal ARF-6. In turn this leads to over-recruitment of PI(4,5)P2-dependent membrane-bending proteins RME-1/Ehd and SDPN-1/Syndapin/PACSIN. Conversely, in arf-6 mutants, endosomal PI(4,5)P2 levels were reduced and endosomal recruitment of RME-1 and SDPN-1 failed. This work makes an unexpected link between distinct classes of small GTPases that control endocytic recycling, and provides insight into how this interaction affects endosome function at the level of lipid phosphorylation.
Keywords: ACAP; ARF-6; Arf6; C. elegans; CNT-1; GAP; RAB GTPase; RAB-10; Rab10; Rab35; clathrin; endocytic recycling; phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate.