ERM proteins: The missing actin linkers in clathrin-mediated endocytosis

Canonical clathrin-coated pits (CCPs) are nucleated by the coordinated arrival of clathrin triskelia and AP2 adaptor proteins at phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP 2 ) enriched plasma membrane domains. Subsequent propagation of the clathrin lattice helps to deform the membrane into a sharply curved pit. A large proportion of the initiated pits fall apart as abortive endocytic events within about 20s, possibly due to insufficient cargo capture. Successful clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is concluded when a clathrin-coated vesicle is released into the cell by dynamin-mediated fission of the CCP membrane neck. A vast array of accessory proteins important for successful CME has been identified. Among these is actin, which has been shown to be required for the maturation and internalization of a subset of CCPs in human cells. Actin dependency during CME correlates with elevated membrane tension, and CCP maturation requires actin polymerization during mitosis, in microvilli at the apical surface of polarized cells and in cells upon global mechanical stretching and hypotonic treatment. The Arp2/3 complex is thought to trigger an acute actin burst coinciding with CCP internalization, but how actin is recruited to CCPs in the first place is not known. Here we show that the ERM (ezrin, radixin, moesin) protein family of membrane-actin linkers associate with CCPs, and that functional perturbation of ERM proteins impedes CCP maturation and reduces the rate of transferrin uptake. By total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy and unbiased object detection and tracking, we show that ezrin localizes to nascent CCPs and that these pits subsequently recruit actin. Based on these data, we propose a model in which activated ERM proteins recruit the initial actin filament during CME.