Plasma membrane-derived vesicles containing receptor-ligand complexes are fusogenic with early endosomes in a cell-free system.

Receptor-mediated endocytosis involves the transport of receptor-ligand complexes from the cell surface to an intracellular endocytic compartment. This study shows that plasma membrane-derived vesicles containing receptor-bound ligands (e.g. aggregated anti-dinitrophenol (DNP) IgG bound to Fc receptors) fuse with early endosomes containing DNP-beta-glucuronidase in a cell-free system. Plasma membrane vesicles were generated by homogenization of cells that had been allowed to bind ligands at 4 degrees C. Fusion between vesicles containing the two probes was assessed by (i) the formation of anti-DNP IgG-DNP-beta-glucuronidase complexes and (ii) the colocalization within closed vesicles of two different sizes of colloidal gold coated with ligands. Fusion required ATP, cytosol, and KCl. The requirements were similar to those described for endosome-endosome fusion in in vitro systems. Mild trypsinization of vesicles prior to their addition to the assay inhibited fusion. When DNP-beta-glucuronidase was chased into more mature endocytic compartments, fusion was not observed. The results indicate that cell surface regions involved in receptor-mediated endocytosis are capable of fusing to early endosomes. This fusion event may constitute the first step in the transport of ligands to an intracellular endocytic compartment.