EGF-dependent re-routing of vesicular recycling switches spontaneous phosphorylation suppression to EGFR signaling

  1. Martin Baumdick
  2. Yannick Brüggemann
  3. Malte Schmick
  4. Georgia Xouri
  5. Ola Sabet
  6. Lloyd Davis
  7. Jason W Chin
  8. Philippe IH Bastiaens  Is a corresponding author
  1. Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Germany
  2. Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, United Kingdom

Abstract

Autocatalytic activation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) coupled to dephosphorylating activity of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) ensures robust yet diverse responses to extracellular stimuli. The inevitable tradeoff of this plasticity is spontaneous receptor activation and spurious signaling. We show that a ligand-mediated switch in EGFR trafficking enables suppression of spontaneous activation while maintaining EGFR's capacity to transduce extracellular signals. Autocatalytic phosphorylation of tyrosine 845 on unliganded EGFR monomers is suppressed by vesicular recycling through perinuclear areas with high PTP1B activity. Ligand-binding results in phosphorylation of the c-Cbl docking tyrosine and ubiquitination of the receptor. This secondary signal relies on EGF-induced EGFR self-association and switches suppressive recycling to directional trafficking. The re-routing regulates EGFR signaling response by the transit-time to late endosomes where it is switched-off by high PTP1B activity. This ubiquitin-mediated switch in EGFR trafficking is a uniquely suited solution to suppress spontaneous activation while maintaining responsiveness to EGF.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Martin Baumdick

    Department of Systemic Cell Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Yannick Brüggemann

    Department of Systemic Cell Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Malte Schmick

    Department of Systemic Cell Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Georgia Xouri

    Department of Systemic Cell Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Ola Sabet

    Department of Systemic Cell Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Lloyd Davis

    Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Jason W Chin

    Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Philippe IH Bastiaens

    Department of Systemic Cell Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany
    For correspondence
    philippe.bastiaens@mpi-dortmund.mpg.de
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Copyright

© 2015, Baumdick et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Martin Baumdick
  2. Yannick Brüggemann
  3. Malte Schmick
  4. Georgia Xouri
  5. Ola Sabet
  6. Lloyd Davis
  7. Jason W Chin
  8. Philippe IH Bastiaens
(2015)
EGF-dependent re-routing of vesicular recycling switches spontaneous phosphorylation suppression to EGFR signaling
eLife 4:e12223.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.12223

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.12223

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