Besides AP-2 and clathrin triskelia, clathrin coat inception depends on a group of early-arriving proteins including Fcho1/2 and Eps15/R. Using genome-edited cells, we described the role of the unstructured Fcho linker in stable AP-2 membrane deposition. Here, expanding this strategy in combination with a new set of llama nanobodies against EPS15 shows an FCHO1/2–EPS15/R partnership plays a decisive role in coat initiation. A nanobody containing an Asn-Pro-Phe peptide within the complementarity-determining region 3 loop is a function-blocking pseudoligand for tandem EPS15/R EH domains. Yet, in living cells, EH domains gathered at clathrin-coated structures are poorly accessible, indicating residence by endogenous NPF-bearing partners. Forcibly sequestering cytosolic EPS15 in genome-edited cells with nanobodies tethered to early endosomes or mitochondria changes the subcellular location and availability of EPS15. This combined approach has strong effects on clathrin coat structure and function by dictating the stability of AP-2 assemblies at the plasma membrane.

The conformational ensemble and function of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are sensitive to their solution environment. The inherent malleability of disordered proteins, combined with the exposure of their residues, accounts for this sensitivity. One context in which IDPs play important roles that are concomitant with massive changes to the intracellular environment is during desiccation (extreme drying). The ability of organisms to survive desiccation has long been linked to the accumulation of high levels of cosolutes such as trehalose or sucrose as well as the enrichment of IDPs, such as late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins or cytoplasmic abundant heat-soluble (CAHS) proteins. Despite knowing that IDPs play important roles and are co-enriched alongside endogenous, species-specific cosolutes during desiccation, little is known mechanistically about how IDP-cosolute interactions influence desiccation tolerance. Here, we test the notion that the protective function of desiccation-related IDPs is enhanced through conformational changes induced by endogenous cosolutes. We find that desiccation-related IDPs derived from four different organisms spanning two LEA protein families and the CAHS protein family synergize best with endogenous cosolutes during drying to promote desiccation protection. Yet the structural parameters of protective IDPs do not correlate with synergy for either CAHS or LEA proteins. We further demonstrate that for CAHS, but not LEA proteins, synergy is related to self-assembly and the formation of a gel. Our results suggest that functional synergy between IDPs and endogenous cosolutes is a convergent desiccation protection strategy seen among different IDP families and organisms, yet the mechanisms underlying this synergy differ between IDP families.