許家維
- 期刊論文
- 學經歷
- 研究方向
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My research focuses on how intracellular protein transport is tightly regulated. Coat proteins, which initiate intracellular transport by coupling their roles in the vesicle formation and cargo sorting, are the best described to control the vesicular transport through their abilities to deform the membrane and directly bind to the cargo. ARF6 (ADP-Ribosylation Factor 6) is a small GTPase functioning in the regulation of endocytic recycling. Previously, I already defined the cargo adaptors, ACAP1 and AKT, both required for the endocytic recycling. ACAP1 (ARFGAP with Coil-coil, Ankyrin repeat and PH domain 1) is a GAP (GTPase-Activating Protein) for ARF6 to promote GTP hydrolysis of ARF6 and therefore to release ARF6 from the membrane. AKT is a serine/threonine kinase involving in many cellular processes, such as cell growth and migration. Although ACAP1 and AKT work together to regulate endocytic recycling, however, the upstream signaling that facilitates ACAP1 and AKT for the function of endocytic recycling remains unclear. In addition, how ACAP1 and AKT cooperate each other to form the complex for cargo sorting still needs to be resolved. These functional studies on the coat protein complexes will shed molecular insights into key physiologic and pathologic events, such as cell growth and migration.
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Phosphorylation of PGK1 on S203 promotes its recruitment to endosomal membranes where it acts as a cargo adaptor to recognize the dileucine sorting motif on EGFR to accelerate its transport to the lysosome. This phosphorylation promotes PGK1 recruitment to endosomal membranes in two complementary ways, a protein-based mechanism that involves binding to hepatocyte growth factor receptor substrate (Hrs) and a lipid-based mechanism that involves binding to PI(4,5)P2. These findings not only reveal a previously unknown role of a metabolic enzyme, but also advance the mechanistic understanding of how endocytic EGFR is transported to the lysosome.

Endocytosis plays a critical role in regulating receptor signaling by promoting receptor internalization. Adaptor proteins regulate the spatial and temporal distribution of endocytic events, controlling downstream signaling pathways. We discovered a previously unrecognized binding partner of PGK1, the AP2 complex, a key cargo adaptor that drives clathrin-mediated endocytosis by recognizing sorting motifs on cargo receptors such as EGFR. We found that PGK1 acts as a co-adaptor that directly engages cargo sorting motifs and strengthens AP2 complex assembly at the plasma membrane. Mapping of the AP2-binding region on PGK1 further revealed that disruption of this interface impairs cargo selection and destabilizes AP2 complex, thereby compromising protein endocytosis. We then identified that clathrin triskelia act as the common outer coat for PGK1-mediated endocytosis. We further demonstrated that PGK1 supports the internalization of another canonical cargo, transferrin receptor (TfR), reinforcing its general function in clathrin-dependent endocytosis. Our confirmation that PGK1 participates in the clathrin-mediated endocytosis through its direct interaction with sorting motifs on cargo proteins and stabilization of AP2 complex has shed unexpected new insight into how cargo sorting process is coordinated.
