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Endosomal sorting and signalling: an emerging role for sorting nexins

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 9, pages 574–582 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The endocytic network comprises a series of interconnected tubulo-vesicular membranous compartments that together regulate various sorting and signalling events. Although it is clear that defects in endocytic function underlie a variety of human diseases, our understanding of the molecular entities that regulate these sorting and signalling events remains limited. Here we discuss the sorting nexins family of proteins and propose that they have a fundamental role in orchestrating the formation of protein complexes that are involved in endosomal sorting and signalling.

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Figure 1: Domain architecture of the mammalian sorting nexins.
Figure 2: The mammalian sorting nexins.
Figure 3: Tubular-based sorting within early endosomes.
Figure 4: SNX-BARs as scaffolds for the formation of sorting complexes.

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Acknowledgements

I apologize to those colleagues for whom a lack of space has precluded discussion of their work. I am grateful to J. Carlton and my laboratory colleagues N. Attar, C. Danson, J. Oakley, C. Traer and T. Wassmer for their critical reading of the manuscript and their suggestions. I am indebted to C. Traer for help in preparing Figure 1. Work in our laboratory is supported by The Wellcome Trust.

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, Peter J. Cullen is at the Henry Wellcome Integrated Signalling Laboratories, School of Medical Sciences, University Walk, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK. Pete.Cullen@bristol.ac.uk,

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Cullen, P. Endosomal sorting and signalling: an emerging role for sorting nexins. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 9, 574–582 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2427

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