The armadillo protein p0071 is involved in Rab11-dependent recycling

p0071 is an intercellular junction protein of the p120 catenin family. We have identified Rab11a as a novel interaction partner of p0071. p0071 interacted preferentially with active Rab11a. Knockdown experiments revealed an interdependent regulation of both proteins. On the one hand, p0071 depletion induced a perinuclear accumulation of Rab11, suggesting a role of p0071 in the anterograde transport of Rab11 from the pericentrosomal region to the plasma membrane but not in retrograde transport. p0071 as well as Rab11 depletion increased transferrin receptor recycling indicating that p0071-induced Rab11 mislocalization interfered with Rab11 function and shifted recycling from the slow Rab11-dependent pathway to the fast Rab4-dependent pathway. When p0071 or Rab11 depletion was combined with a Rab4 knockdown the effect was reversed. On the other hand, Rab11a depletion increased p0071 recycling to cell contacts thereby identifying p0071 as a Rab11 cargo protein. This correlated with increased intercellular adhesion. Thus, we propose that p0071 has a key role in regulating recycling through the Rab11-dependent perinuclear recycling compartment, and links the regulation of adherens junctions to recycling to allow dynamic modulation of intercellular adhesion.