Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Density Gradient Ultracentrifugation for Investigating Endocytic Recycling in Mammalian Cells
Published on: June 30, 2021
Syndecan recycling [corrected] is controlled by syntenin-PIP2 interaction and Arf6
Pascale Zimmermann1, Zhe Zhang, Gisèle Degeest
1Laboratory for Glycobiology and Developmental Genetics, Department of Human Genetics, University of Leuven, Belgium. pascale.zimmerman@med.kuleuven.be
Abstract:
Syndecans are heparan sulfate proteoglycans that modulate the activity of several growth factors and cell adhesion molecules. PDZ domains in the adaptor protein syntenin interact with syndecans and with the phosphoinositide PIP(2), which is involved in the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton and membrane trafficking. Here, we show that the syntenin PDZ domain-PIP(2) interaction controls Arf6-mediated syndecan recycling through endosomal compartments. FGF receptor accompanies syndecan along the syntenin-mediated recycling pathway, in a heparan sulfate- and FGF-dependent manner. Syndecans that cannot recycle via this pathway become trapped intracellularly and inhibit cell spreading. This syntenin-mediated syndecan recycling pathway may regulate the surface availability of a number of cell adhesion and signaling molecules.
Related Concept Videos
Export of Misfolded Proteins out of the ER
Cytoskeletal Coordination in Cell Migration
Catenins
Catenins in Cell Junctions
Catenins bind to cell adhesion molecules such as cadherins and link them to different cytoskeletal proteins depending on the type of cell junction. At the adherens...
Recycling Endosomes and Transcytosis
The recycling endosome is not a single organelle but an extensively tubulated network of recycling pathways. It functions in storing molecules or transporting them across...
Rab Cascades
Tail-anchoring of Proteins in the ER Membrane

