Endophilin is required for synaptic vesicle endocytosis by localizing synaptojanin

Endophilin is a membrane-associated protein required for endocytosis of synaptic vesicles. Two models have been proposed for endophilin: that it alters lipid composition in order to shape membranes during endocytosis, or that it binds the polyphosphoinositide phosphatase synaptojanin and recruits this phosphatase to membranes. In this study, we demonstrate that the unc-57 gene encodes the Caenorhabditis elegans ortholog of endophilin A. We demonstrate that endophilin is required in C. elegans for synaptic vesicle recycling. Furthermore, the defects observed in endophilin mutants closely resemble those observed in synaptojanin mutants. The electrophysiological phenotype of endophilin and synaptojanin double mutants are virtually identical to the single mutants, demonstrating that endophilin and synaptojanin function in the same pathway. Finally, endophilin is required to stabilize expression of synaptojanin at the synapse. These data suggest that endophilin is an adaptor protein required to localize and stabilize synaptojanin at membranes during synaptic vesicle recycling.     

Mutations in synaptojanin disrupt synaptic vesicle recycling

Synaptojanin is a polyphosphoinositide phosphatase that is found at synapses and binds to proteins implicated in endocytosis. For these reasons, it has been proposed that synaptojanin is involved in the recycling of synaptic vesicles. Here, we demonstrate that the unc-26 gene encodes the Caenorhabditis elegans ortholog of synaptojanin. unc-26 mutants exhibit defects in vesicle trafficking in several tissues, but most defects are found at synaptic termini. Specifically, we observed defects in the budding of synaptic vesicles from the plasma membrane, in the uncoating of vesicles after fission, in the recovery of vesicles from endosomes, and in the tethering of vesicles to the cytoskeleton. Thus, these results confirm studies of the mouse synaptojanin 1 mutants, which exhibit defects in the uncoating of synaptic vesicles (Cremona, O., G. Di Paolo, M.R. Wenk, A. Luthi, W.T. Kim, K. Takei, L. Daniell, Y. Nemoto, S.B. Shears, R.A. Flavell, D.A. McCormick, and P. De Camilli. 1999. Cell. 99:179-188), and further demonstrate that synaptojanin facilitates multiple steps of synaptic vesicle recycling.     

Polyunsaturated fatty acids influence synaptojanin localization to regulate synaptic vesicle recycling

The lipid polyunsaturated fatty acids are highly enriched in synaptic membranes, including synaptic vesicles, but their precise function there is unknown. Caenorhabditis elegans fat-3 mutants lack long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs); they release abnormally low levels of serotonin and acetylcholine and are depleted of synaptic vesicles, but the mechanistic basis of these defects is unclear. Here we demonstrate that synaptic vesicle endocytosis is impaired in the mutants: the synaptic vesicle protein synaptobrevin is not efficiently retrieved after synaptic vesicles fuse with the presynaptic membrane, and the presynaptic terminals contain abnormally large endosomal-like compartments and synaptic vesicles. Moreover, the mutants have abnormally low levels of the phosphoinositide phosphatase synaptojanin at release sites and accumulate the main synaptojanin substrate phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate at these sites. Both synaptobrevin and synaptojanin mislocalization can be rescued by providing exogenous arachidonic acid, an LC-PUFA, suggesting that the endocytosis defect is caused by LC-PUFA depletion. By showing that the genes fat-3 and synaptojanin act in the same endocytic pathway at synapses, our findings suggest that LC-PUFAs are required for efficient synaptic vesicle recycling, probably by modulating synaptojanin localization at synapses.     

UNC-80 and the NCA ion channels contribute to endocytosis defects in synaptojanin mutants

Synaptojanin is a lipid phosphatase required to degrade phosphatidylinositol 4,5 bisphosphate (PIP(2)) at cell membranes during synaptic vesicle recycling. Synaptojanin mutants in C. elegans are severely uncoordinated and are depleted of synaptic vesicles, possibly because of accumulation of PIP(2). To identify proteins that act downstream of PIP(2) during endocytosis, we screened for suppressors of synaptojanin mutants in the nematode C. elegans. A class of uncoordinated mutants called "fainters" partially suppress the locomotory, vesicle depletion, and electrophysiological defects in synaptojanin mutants. These suppressor loci include the genes for the NCA ion channels, which are homologs of the vertebrate cation leak channel NALCN, and a novel gene called unc-80. We demonstrate that unc-80 encodes a novel, but highly conserved, neuronal protein required for the proper localization of the NCA-1 and NCA-2 ion channel subunits. These data suggest that activation of the NCA ion channel in synaptojanin mutants leads to defects in recycling of synaptic vesicles.     

Synaptojanin 2 functions at an early step of clathrin-mediated endocytosis

Synaptojanin 2 is a ubiquitously expressed polyphosphoinositide phosphatase that displays a high degree of homology in its catalytic domains with synaptojanin 1 [1,2]. Neurons of synaptojanin 1-deficient mice display an increase in clathrin-coated vesicles and delayed reentry of recycling vesicles into the fusion-competent vesicle pool, but no defects in early steps of endocytosis [3,4]. Here we show that inhibition of synaptojanin 2 expression via small interfering (si) RNA causes a strong defect in clathrin-mediated receptor internalization in a lung carcinoma cell line. This inhibitory phenotype is rescued by overexpression of wild-type synaptojanin 2, but not of wild-type synaptojanin 1 or mutant synaptojanin 2 that is deficient in 5'-phosphatase activity. In addition, electron-microscopic analysis shows that synaptojanin 2 depletion causes a decrease in clathrin-coated pits and vesicles. These results suggest a role for synaptojanin 2 in clathrin-coated pit formation and imply that lipid hydrolysis is required at an early stage of clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Taken together, our results also indicate that synaptojanin 2 is functionally distinct from synaptojanin 1.     

Protein phosphorylation is required for endocytosis in nerve terminals: potential role for the dephosphins dynamin I and synaptojanin, but not AP180 or amphiphysin

Dynamin I and at least five other nerve terminal proteins, amphiphysins I and II, synaptojanin, epsin and eps15 (collectively called dephosphins), are coordinately dephosphorylated by calcineurin during endocytosis of synaptic vesicles. Here we have identified a new dephosphin, the essential endocytic protein AP180. Blocking dephosphorylation of the dephosphins is known to inhibit endocytosis, but the role of phosphorylation has not been determined. We show that the protein kinase C (PKC) antagonists Ro 31-8220 and Go 7874 block the rephosphorylation of dynamin I and synaptojanin that occurs during recovery from an initial depolarizing stimulus (S1). The rephosphorylation of AP180 and amphiphysins 1 and 2, however, were unaffected by Ro 31-8220. Although these dephosphins share a single phosphatase, different protein kinases phosphorylated them after nerve terminal stimulation. The inhibitors were used to selectively examine the role of dynamin I and/or synaptojanin phosphorylation in endocytosis. Ro 31-8220 and Go 7874 did not block the initial S1 cycle of endocytosis, but strongly inhibited endocytosis following a second stimulus (S2). Therefore, phosphorylation of a subset of dephosphins, which includes dynamin I and synaptojanin, is required for the next round of stimulated synaptic vesicle retrieval.     

Fission and uncoating of synaptic clathrin-coated vesicles are perturbed by disruption of interactions with the SH3 domain of endophilin

Coordination between sequential steps in synaptic vesicle endocytosis, including clathrin coat formation, fission, and uncoating, appears to involve proteinprotein interactions. Here, we show that compounds that disrupt interactions of the SH3 domain of endophilin with dynamin and synaptojanin impair synaptic vesicle endocytosis in a living synapse. Two distinct endocytic intermediates accumulated. Free clathrin-coated vesicles were induced by a peptide-blocking endophilin's SH3 domain and by antibodies to the proline-rich domain (PRD) of synaptojanin. Invaginated clathrin-coated pits were induced by the same peptide and by the SH3 domain of endophilin. We suggest that the SH3 domain of endophilin participates in both fission and uncoating and that it may be a key component of a molecular switch that couples the fission reaction to uncoating.     

Recruitment of endophilin to clathrin-coated pit necks is required for efficient vesicle uncoating after fission

Endophilin is a membrane-binding protein with curvature-generating and -sensing properties that participates in clathrin-dependent endocytosis of synaptic vesicle membranes. Endophilin also binds the GTPase dynamin and the phosphoinositide phosphatase synaptojanin and is thought to coordinate constriction of coated pits with membrane fission (via dynamin) and subsequent uncoating (via synaptojanin). We show that although synaptojanin is recruited by endophilin at bud necks before fission, the knockout of all three mouse endophilins results in the accumulation of clathrin-coated vesicles, but not of clathrin-coated pits, at synapses. The absence of endophilin impairs but does not abolish synaptic transmission and results in perinatal lethality, whereas partial endophilin absence causes severe neurological defects, including epilepsy and neurodegeneration. Our data support a model in which endophilin recruitment to coated pit necks, because of its curvature-sensing properties, primes vesicle buds for subsequent uncoating after membrane fission, without being critically required for the fission reaction itself.     

Essential role of phosphoinositide metabolism in synaptic vesicle recycling.

Growing evidence suggests that phosphoinositides play an important role in membrane traffic. A polyphosphoinositide phosphatase, synaptojanin 1, was identified as a major presynaptic protein associated with endocytic coated intermediates. We report here that synaptojanin 1-deficient mice exhibit neurological defects and die shortly after birth. In neurons of mutant animals, PI(4,5)P2 levels are increased, and clathrin-coated vesicles accumulate in the cytomatrix-rich area that surrounds the synaptic vesicle cluster in nerve endings. In cell-free assays, reduced phosphoinositide phosphatase activity correlated with increased association of clathrin coats with liposomes. Intracellular recording in hippocampal slices revealed enhanced synaptic depression during prolonged high-frequency stimulation followed by delayed recovery. These results provide genetic evidence for a crucial role of phosphoinositide metabolism in synaptic vesicle recycling.     

Endophilin and synaptojanin hook up to promote synaptic vesicle endocytosis

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis of synaptic vesicles requires molecular rearrangements of proteins as well as lipids. In this issue of Neuron, Schuske et al. and Verstreken et al. show that the lipid-modifying enzyme endophilin recruits and stabilizes the polyphosphoinositide phosphatase synaptojanin at nerve terminals. This remarkable pairing of two enzymatic activities promotes multiple steps of clathrin-mediated endocytosis of synaptic vesicles.     

A slowed classical pathway rather than kiss-and-run mediates endocytosis at synapses lacking synaptojanin and endophilin

The extent to which a "kiss-and-run" mode of endocytosis contributes to synaptic-vesicle recycling remains controversial. The only genetic evidence for kiss-and-run at the synapse comes from mutations in the genes encoding synaptojanin and endophilin, proteins that together function to uncoat vesicles in classical clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Here we have characterized the endocytosis that persists in null alleles of Drosophila synaptojanin and endophilin. In response to high-frequency stimulation, the synaptic-vesicle pool can be reversibly depleted in these mutants. Recovery from this depletion is slow and indicates the persistence of an impaired form of classical endocytosis. Steady-state exocytosis rates reveal that endocytosis saturates in mutant neuromuscular terminals at approximately 80 vesicles/s, 10%-20% of the wild-type rate. Analyses of quantal size, FM1-43 loading, and dynamin function further demonstrate that, even in the absence of synaptojanin or endophilin, vesicles undergo full fusion and re-formation. Therefore, no genetic evidence remains to indicate that synaptic vesicles undergo kiss-and-run.     

Endophilin-1: a multifunctional protein

Endophilin-1, a cytoplasmic Src homology 3 (SH3) domain-containing protein, localises in brain presynaptic nerve termini. Endophilin dimerises through its N-terminus, and participates at multiple stages in clathrin-coated endocytosis, from early membrane invagination to synaptic vesicle uncoating. Both its C-terminal SH3 domain and N-terminus are required for endocytosis. Through its SH3 domain, endophilin bound to proline-rich domains (PRDs) in other endocytic proteins, including synaptojanin and dynamin. The N-terminal region possesses unique functions affecting lipid membrane curvature, through lysophosphatidic acid acyl transferase (LPAAT) activity and direct binding and tubulating activity. In addition to synaptic vesicle formation, endophilin-1 complexes with signalling molecules, including cell surface receptors, metalloprotease disintegrins and germinal centre kinase-like kinase (GLK). Therefore, endophilin-1 may serve to couple vesicle biogenesis with intracellular signalling cascades.     

Endophilin/SH3p4 is required for the transition from early to late stages in clathrin-mediated synaptic vesicle endocytosis

Endophilin/SH3p4 is a protein highly enriched in nerve terminals that binds the GTPase dynamin and the polyphosphoinositide phosphatase synaptojanin, two proteins implicated in synaptic vesicle endocytosis. We show here that antibody-mediated disruption of endophilin function in a tonically stimulated synapse leads to a block in the invagination of clathrin-coated pits adjacent to the active zone and therefore to a block of synaptic vesicle recycling. We also show that in a cell-free system, endophilin is not associated with clathrin coats and is a functional partner of dynamin. Our findings suggest that endophilin is part of a biochemical machinery that acts in trans to the clathrin coat from early stages to vesicle fission.     

A doubleheader in endocytosis

Synaptojanin1 degrades the signaling lipid phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate and facilitates compensatory endocytosis, clathrin-coat disassembly, and vesicle reavailability at active synapses. In this issue of Neuron, Mani et al. provide new information about the separate roles of synaptojanin's two phosphatase domains and its interactions with endophilin in regulating these important aspects of the vesicle cycle.     

Identification and characterization of a synaptojanin 2 splice isoform predominantly expressed in nerve terminals

We have previously identified synaptojanin 1, a phosphoinositide phosphatase predominantly expressed in the nervous system, and synaptojanin 2, a broadly expressed isoform. Synaptojanin 1 is concentrated in nerve terminals, where it has been implicated in synaptic vesicle recycling and actin function. Synaptojanin 2A is targeted to mitochondria via a PDZ domain-mediated interaction. We have now characterized an alternatively spliced form of synaptojanin 2 that shares several properties with synaptojanin 1. This isoform, synaptojanin 2B, undergoes further alternative splicing to generate synaptojanin 2B1 and 2B2. Both amphiphysin and endophilin, two partners synaptojanin 1, bind synaptojanin 2B2, whereas only amphiphysin binds synaptojanin 2B1. Sequence similar to the endophilin-binding site in synaptojanin 1 is present only in synaptojanin 2B2, and this sequence was capable of affinity purifying endophilin from rat brain. The Sac1 domain of synaptojanin 2 exhibited phosphoinositide phosphatase activity very similar to that of the Sac1 domain of synaptojanin 1. Site-directed mutagenesis further illustrated its functional similarity to the catalytic domain of Sac1 proteins. Antibodies raised against the synaptojanin 2B-specific carboxyl-terminal region identified a 160-kDa protein in brain and testis. Immunofluorescence showed that synaptojanin 2B is localized at nerve terminals in brain and at the spermatid manchette in testis. Active Rac1 GTPase affects the intracellular localization of synaptojanin 2, but not of synaptojanin 1. These results suggest that synaptojanin 2B has a partially overlapping function with synaptojanin 1 in nerve terminals, with additional roles in neurons and other cells including spermatids.     

Synaptobrevin is essential for fast synaptic-vesicle endocytosis

Synaptobrevin-2 (VAMP-2), the major SNARE protein of synaptic vesicles, is required for fast calcium-triggered synaptic-vesicle exocytosis. Here we show that synaptobrevin-2 is also essential for fast synaptic-vesicle endocytosis. We demonstrate that after depletion of the readily releasable vesicle pool, replenishment of the pool is delayed by knockout of synaptobrevin. This delay was not from a loss of vesicles, because the total number of pre-synaptic vesicles, docked vesicles and actively recycling vesicles was unaffected. However, altered shape and size of the vesicles in synaptobrevin-deficient synapses suggests a defect in endocytosis. Consistent with such a defect, the stimulus-dependent endocytosis of horseradish peroxidase and fluorescent FM1-43 were delayed, indicating that fast vesicle endocytosis may normally be nucleated by a SNARE-dependent coat. Thus, synaptobrevin is essential for two fast synapse-specific membrane trafficking reactions: fast exocytosis for neurotransmitter release and fast endocytosis that mediates rapid reuse of synaptic vesicles.     

Mechanisms of synaptic vesicle recycling illuminated by fluorescent dyes

The recycling of synaptic vesicles in nerve terminals involves multiple steps, underlies all aspects of synaptic transmission, and is a key to understanding the basis of synaptic plasticity. The development of styryl dyes as fluorescent molecules that label recycling synaptic vesicles has revolutionized the way in which synaptic vesicle recycling can be investigated, by allowing an examination of processes in neurons that have long been inaccessible. In this review, we evaluate the major aspects of synaptic vesicle recycling that have been revealed and advanced by studies with styryl dyes, focussing upon synaptic vesicle fusion, retrieval, and trafficking. The greatest impact of styryl dyes has been to allow the routine visualization of endocytosis in central nerve terminals for the first time. This has revealed the kinetics of endocytosis, its underlying sequential steps, and its regulation by Ca2+. In studies of exocytosis, styryl dyes have helped distinguish between different modes of vesicle fusion, provided direct support for the quantal nature of exocytosis and endocytosis, and revealed how the probability of exocytosis varies enormously from one nerve terminal to another. Synaptic vesicle labelling with styryl dyes has helped our understanding of vesicle trafficking by allowing better understanding of different synaptic vesicle pools within the nerve terminal, vesicle intermixing, and vesicle clustering at release sites. Finally, the dyes are now being used in innovative ways to reveal further insights into synaptic plasticity.     

The SAC1 domain in synaptojanin is required for autophagosome maturation at presynaptic terminals

Presynaptic terminals are metabolically active and accrue damage through continuous vesicle cycling. How synapses locally regulate protein homeostasis is poorly understood. We show that the presynaptic lipid phosphatase synaptojanin is required for macroautophagy, and this role is inhibited by the Parkinson's disease mutation R258Q. Synaptojanin drives synaptic endocytosis by dephosphorylating PI(4,5)P₂, but this function appears normal in Synaptojanin^RQ knock‐in flies. Instead, R258Q affects the synaptojanin SAC1 domain that dephosphorylates PI(3)P and PI(3,5)P₂, two lipids found in autophagosomal membranes. Using advanced imaging, we show that Synaptojanin^RQ mutants accumulate the PI(3)P/PI(3,5)P₂‐binding protein Atg18a on nascent synaptic autophagosomes, blocking autophagosome maturation at fly synapses and in neurites of human patient induced pluripotent stem cell‐derived neurons. Additionally, we observe neurodegeneration, including dopaminergic neuron loss, in Synaptojanin^RQ flies. Thus, synaptojanin is essential for macroautophagy within presynaptic terminals, coupling protein turnover with synaptic vesicle cycling and linking presynaptic‐specific autophagy defects to Parkinson's disease.     

Syndapin I, a Synaptic Dynamin-binding Protein that Associates with the Neural Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein

The GTPase dynamin has been clearly implicated in clathrin-mediated endocytosis of synaptic vesicle membranes at the presynaptic nerve terminal. Here we describe a novel 52-kDa protein in rat brain that binds the proline-rich C terminus of dynamin. Syndapin I (synaptic, dynamin-associated protein I) is highly enriched in brain where it exists in a high molecular weight complex. Syndapin I can be involved in multiple protein–protein interactions via a src homology 3 (SH3) domain at the C terminus and two predicted coiled-coil stretches. Coprecipitation studies and blot overlay analyses revealed that syndapin I binds the brain-specific proteins dynamin I, synaptojanin, and synapsin I via an SH3 domain-specific interaction. Coimmunoprecipitation of dynamin I with antibodies recognizing syndapin I and colocalization of syndapin I with dynamin I at vesicular structures in primary neurons indicate that syndapin I associates with dynamin I in vivo and may play a role in synaptic vesicle endocytosis. Furthermore, syndapin I associates with the neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein, an actin-depolymerizing protein that regulates cytoskeletal rearrangement. These characteristics of syndapin I suggest a molecular link between cytoskeletal dynamics and synaptic vesicle recycling in the nerve terminal.     

The SH3 domains of endophilin and amphiphysin bind to the proline-rich region of synaptojanin 1 at distinct sites that display an unconventional binding specificity.

The proline-rich domain of synaptojanin 1, a synaptic protein with phosphatidylinositol phosphatase activity, binds to amphiphysin and to a family of recently discovered proteins known as the SH3p4/8/13, the SH3-GL, or the endophilin family. These interactions are mediated by SH3 domains and are believed to play a regulatory role in synaptic vesicle recycling. We have precisely mapped the target peptides on human synaptojanin that are recognized by the SH3 domains of endophilins and amphiphysin and proven that they are distinct. By a combination of different approaches, selection of phage displayed peptide libraries, substitution analyses of peptides synthesized on cellulose membranes, and a peptide scan spanning a 252-residue long synaptojanin fragment, we have concluded that amphiphysin binds to two sites, PIRPSR and PTIPPR, whereas endophilin has a distinct preferred binding site, PKRPPPPR. The comparison of the results obtained by phage display and substitution analysis permitted the identification of proline and arginine at positions 4 and 6 in the PIRPSR and PTIPPR target sequence as the major determinants of the recognition specificity mediated by the SH3 domain of amphiphysin 1. More complex is the structural rationalization of the preferred endophilin ligands where SH3 binding cannot be easily interpreted in the framework of the "classical" type I or type II SH3 binding models. Our results suggest that the binding repertoire of SH3 domains may be more complex than originally predicted.