Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase is not required for recycling of mannose 6-phosphate receptors from late endosomes to the trans-Golgi network.

Mannose 6-phosphate receptors carry newly synthesized lysosomal hydrolases from the trans-Golgi network to endosomes, then return to the trans-Golgi network for another round of enzyme delivery. Wortmannin, an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, interferes with the delivery of newly synthesized lysosomal enzymes to lysosomes. We used two independent assays of mannose 6-phosphate receptor trafficking to determine the precise step that is blocked by wortmannin. Using an assay that monitors resialylation of desialylated cell surface 300-kDa mannose 6-phosphate receptors, we found that receptor endocytosis and transport to the trans-Golgi network were not inhibited by 2 microM wortmannin. In addition, this concentration of drug had no effect on the transport of the mannose 6-phosphate receptor from late endosomes to the trans-Golgi network using a system that reconstitutes this transport process in cell extracts. Under the same conditions, wortmannin significantly inhibited the generation of mature cathepsin D. In addition, the structurally unrelated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor, LY294002, was also without effect when added to in vitro endosome-trans-Golgi network transport reactions. These experiments demonstrate that the interruption in lysosomal enzyme targeting is most likely due to a wortmannin-sensitive process required for the export of these receptors from the trans-Golgi network, consistent with the established role of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase in the equivalent transport process in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.