The interactomics of sortilin: an ancient lysosomal receptor evolving new functions

The delivery of soluble lysosomal proteins to the lysosomes is dependent primarily on the mannose 6-phosphate receptor (MPR). The MPR has been demonstrated to attain the early endosomes via a process that requires the interaction of its cytosolic domain with the GGA and AP-1 adaptor proteins. Additionally, the MPR can be recycled back to the trans-Golgi network (TGN) through its interaction with the retromer complex. Interestingly, in I-cell disease (ICD), in which the MPR pathway is non-functional, many soluble lysosomal proteins continue to traffic to the lysosomes. This observation led to the discovery that sortilin is responsible for the MPR-independent targeting of the sphingolipid activator proteins (SAPs) and acid sphingomyelinase (ASM). More recently, our laboratory has tested the hypothesis that sortilin is also capable of sorting a variety of cathepsins that exhibit varying degrees of MPR-independent transport. We have demonstrated that the transport of cathepsin D is partially dependent upon sortilin, that cathepsin H requires sortilin, and that cathepsins K and L attain the lysosomes in a sortilin-independent fashion. As a type-1 receptor, sortilin also has numerous cytosolic binding partners. It has been observed that like the MPR, the anterograde trafficking of sortilin and its cargo require both GGAs and AP-1. Similarly, the retrograde recycling pathway of sortilin also involves an interaction with retromer through a YXXphi site in the cytosolic tail of sortilin. In conclusion, the cytosolic domains of sortilin and MPR possess a high degree of functional homology and both receptors share a conserved trafficking mechanism.