Neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein is recruited to rafts and associates with endophilin A in response to epidermal growth factor.

Neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (N-WASP) has been implicated in endocytosis; however, little is known about how it interacts functionally with the endocytic machinery. Sucrose gradient fractionation experiments and immunofluorescence studies with anti-N-WASP antibody revealed that N-WASP is recruited together with clathrin and dynamin, which play essential roles in clathrin-mediated endocytosis, to lipid rafts in an epidermal growth factor (EGF)-dependent manner. Endophilin A (EA) binds to dynamin and plays an essential role in the fission step of clathrin-mediated endocytosis. In the present study, we show that the Src homology 3 (SH3) domain of EA associates with the proline-rich domain of N-WASP and dynamin in vitro. Co-immunoprecipitation assays with anti-N-WASP antibody revealed that EGF induces association of N-WASP with EA. In addition, EA enhances N-WASP-induced actin-related protein 2/3 (Arp2/3) complex activation in vitro. Immunofluorescence studies revealed that actin accumulates at sites where N-WASP and EA are co-localized after EGF stimulation. Furthermore, studies of overexpression of the SH3 domain of EA indicate that EA may regulate EGF-induced recruitment of N-WASP to lipid rafts. These results suggest that, upon EGF stimulation, N-WASP interacts with EA through its proline-rich domain to induce the fission step of clathrin-mediated endocytosis.