Abstract
The retromer complex mediates export of select transmembrane proteins from endosomes to the trans-Golgi network (TGN) or to the plasma membrane. Dysfunction of retromer has been linked with slowly progressing neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease (AD and PD). As these disorders affect synapses it is of key importance to clarify the function of retromer-dependent protein trafficking pathways in pre- and postsynaptic compartments. Here we discuss recent insights into the roles of retromer in the trafficking of synaptic vesicle proteins, neurotransmitter receptors and other synaptic proteins. We also consider evidence that implies synapses as sites of early pathology in neurodegenerative disorders, pointing to a possible role of synaptic retromer dysfunction in the initiation of disease.
The retromer protein complex also referred to as retromer, is a critical component of the endosomal protein sorting machinery. This complex recognizes specific transmembrane proteins and exports them by forming tubules to promote transport. Of three endosomal export destinations (Figure 1A)—retrograde transport to the trans-Golgi network (TGN), recycling to the plasma membrane, and traffic to lysosomes—the former two are controlled by retromer (Seaman, ; McNally and Cullen, ). Retromer is composed of two main parts, the cargo-selection complex (CSC) and the tubulation module. The CSC consists of three largely globular proteins, VPS35, VPS26 and VPS29, named after the vacuolar protein sorting genes in yeast. The stability of the CSC depends on VPS35 and hence knockout/knockdown of this protein is commonly used to disrupt retromer function. The tubulation module comprises heterodimers of the BAR domain-containing sorting nexins SNX1/SNX2 and SNX5/SNX6 (Seaman, ; Mukadam and Seaman, ). Recent structural studies indicate that the CSC promotes tubule formation by directing the distribution of SNX proteins on the membrane surface (Kovtun et al., ).
Figure 1
Retromer function depends on a set of accessory proteins. Among the most well characterized are SNX3 and Rab7a that mediate recruitment of the CSC to the endosomal membrane, and the GTPase activating protein TBC1D5, which acts on Rab7a to inhibit the recruitment process (Seaman,
Retromer in the Adult and Developing Nervous System
Retromer components are ubiquitously expressed in the nervous system. The expression level varies between different brain regions and cell types (Wen et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2012; Lucin et al.,
In the developing brain the expression level of VPS35 peaks at stages P10–P15 and then declines to a low level that remains stable during adulthood (Wang et al., 2012). Accordingly, retromer plays a critical role in nervous system development. Full knockout of VPS35 causes death prior to neurogenesis, while heterozygous knockout, or in utero knockdown at a late embryonic stage, leads to impaired development of axons and dendrites (Wen et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2012; Tian et al., 2015). At least some of the developmental defects are due to loss of retromer present in microglia (Appel et al.,
Retromer and Presynaptic Protein Trafficking
Protein trafficking in presynaptic terminals is dominated by synaptic vesicle proteins, which are inserted into the plasma membrane upon exocytic neurotransmitter release and subsequently retrieved by endocytosis (Shupliakov and Brodin, 2010). Whether or not the retrieval is followed by an endosomal sorting step prior to vesicle re-use is a classical problem that has been discussed for decades (Heuser and Reese,
Two studies of retromer function at presynaptic terminals have recently shed new light on the problem of endosome involvement in synaptic vesicle recycling. In the first study, Inoshita and co-authors examined the effect of deleting VPS35 in Drosophila (Inoshita et al.,
In view of these apparently contradictory data it is unavoidable to speculate that the developmental stage is a critical factor. Studies in toad and mouse motorneurons, for example, suggest that synapse maturation can involve a switch from endosome-dependent to endosome-independent vesicle recycling modes (Zakharenko et al., 1999; Shetty et al., 2013). If this is true, the retromer system in mature nerve terminals can be assumed to serve other functions than to sort synaptic vesicle proteins. In this context it is interesting to note that Vazquez-Sanchez et al. (2018) detected VPS35 in some but not all hippocampal nerve terminals. Investigation of the role of retromer in different synapse types, and at different developmental stages will be of great interest for further studies.
Another presynaptic endosomal system of considerable physiological and pathological importance consists of signaling endosomes. Such endosomes take part in sorting and retrograde axonal transport of endogenous proteins like BDNF and its receptors TrkB and p75NTR, and exogenous agents like Tetanus toxin (Deinhardt et al.,
Retromer and Neurotransmitter Transporters
The plasma membrane dopamine transporter (DAT) acts to terminate DA transmission primarily by mediating reuptake into dopaminergic presynaptic terminals. DA reuptake is affected by psychostimulants such as cocaine and amphetamine, and altered reuptake has been linked with different neuropsychiatric conditions (Sawa and Snyder,
Retromer and Ionotropic Neurotransmitter Receptors
The postsynaptic compartment is a hotspot for trafficking of neurotransmitter receptors. With regard to ionotropic receptors detailed studies have primarily concerned glutamate receptors, which mediate most fast synaptic communication in the brain. In particular, the AMPA receptor subtype, made up of GluA1–4 subunits, has been thoroughly examined (Pick and Ziff,
Figure 2

Retromer supports AMPA receptor trafficking during long-term potentiation (LTP). (A) Plot of the excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC) amplitude during induction of LTP in control hippocampal slices (black dots) and hippocampal slices infected with lentivirus expressing an shRNA for VPS35 (green dots), and a further control, in which VPS35 expression had been restored (red dots). (B) Induction of chemical LTP causes incorporation of GluA1 receptors (tagged with a pH-sensitive reporter) in the dendritic plasma membrane of a hippocampal control neuron (left). The dendrite was photobleached prior to LTP induction to reveal the successive accumulation of GluA1 receptors. Knockdown of VPS35 (right) effectively inhibited receptor incorporation (reproduced from Temkin et al., 2017 with permission).
It should be noted that inhibitory synaptic transmission via GABA receptors is unaffected by retromer depletion even in immature neurons (Choy et al.,
Retromer and G-Protein Coupled Neurotransmitter Receptors
G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) comprise a large and heterogenous group that induce a wide variety of intracellular signals, mainly via G-proteins or β-arrestin. Recent studies suggest that retromer plays a key role in the transduction of GPCR signals. This is partly due to the fact that GPCRs, unlike ionotropic receptors, act not only at the plasma membrane but continue to signal at intracellular sites, including endosomes and the TGN (Eichel and von Zastrow,
Retromer can also regulate the plasma membrane levels of GPCRs (including D1 and β2 receptors) by recycling them back from endosomes (Choy et al.,
Links to Neurodegenerative Disorders
Retromer has gained wide interest in recent years due to its involvement in neurodegenerative disorders (Small and Petsko, 2015; Li et al.,
Adding to the link between retromer and APP processing, indirect evidence also suggests an involvement of retromer in Tau pathology, which is another hallmark of AD. The delivery of cathepsin D to lysosomes is retromer-dependent and cathepsin D deficiency has been shown to aggravate Tau toxicity (Small and Petsko, 2015). Moreover, retromer stabilization can reduce pathology-associated Tau phosphorylation (Young et al., 2018).
In spite of the links with Aβ and Tau pathology, the precise role of retromer in AD pathogenesis is not fully clear. The question of whether synaptic retromer systems are involved remains open (Figure 3). Synapse loss is a hallmark of AD that occurs early in disease progression (Masliah et al.,
Figure 3

Retromer failure at different synaptic sites may contribute to neurodegenerative disorders. Aβ and Tau are key pathogenic proteins in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that can impair both pre- and postsynaptic functions. α-synuclein is a presynaptic protein strongly linked with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Mutations or altered expression/processing of retromer components may result in impaired retromer function in pre- and/or postsynaptic compartments and perturbed protein degradation. Moreover, retromer dysfunction in adjacent glial cells, including both microglia and astrocytes, may contribute to decreased clearance of pathogenic proteins from the synaptic region. Retromer defects may also trigger aberrant phase separation of key proteins that can contribute to aggregate formation. Overall, impairment of retromer function at synapses may thus result in various defects in the handling of Aβ, Tau and α-synuclein leading to pathological aggregate formation.
Genetic evidence implicates retromer also in Parkinson’s disease (PD). A missense mutation in VPS35, D620N, has been found to cause late-onset PD in several patient populations world-wide (Williams et al., 2017; Cui et al.,
Similar to the case with AD, some forms of PD are strongly linked with synapses, and primarily with the presynaptic compartment. Evidence from postmortem and neuroimaging studies in humans along with animal model data suggest that the degeneration of substantia nigra DA neurons may originate in their projections to striatum rather than in the cell bodies (Burke and O’Malley,
The composition and roles of the retromer system in nigrostriatal nerve terminals yet waits to be defined (apart from being implicated in DAT handling as discussed above). Its functional importance is supported by the observation that a mutation in VPS35, D620N, leads to altered DA turnover in striatum (Ishizu et al.,
Other neurodegenerative diseases linked with retromer include Down syndrome, a variant of hereditary spastic paraplegia, and neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (Small and Petsko, 2015; Zhang et al., 2018). With regard to Down syndrome, the disease mechanism may be similar to that in AD as the expression of APP (located at chromosome 21) and Aβ production are enhanced. Moreover, the expression of miR 155 is enhanced causing a reduction of SNX27 expression that can both compromise synaptic glutamate receptor traffic (Wang et al., 2013) and interfere with APP processing (Zhang et al., 2018).
Conclusions and Future Perspectives
Although the importance of retromer at synapses is beginning to become evident, the field is yet at an early stage and many questions remain to be answered. First and foremost, the scheme of endosomal cargo retrieval vs. degradation (Figure 1A) has been worked out in compact cell bodies and its correlates in distantly located synapses remain largely unexplored. Moreover, insights into neuronal retromer functions are in most cases limited to a handful of neuron types or to extrapolation from cell line studies. A clear priority is thus to expand the study to a broader set of neuron types. This is particularly true for presynaptic retromer systems of which the functions are least well understood. Another priority is to define more precisely the dynamic localization and composition of retromer systems and their accessory proteins in distinct types of synapses. High resolution imaging of these protein complexes at synapses under different conditions will be one of the challenges. Knowledge about putative synapse-specific accessory proteins will permit directed functional studies, and may also facilitate pharmacological development directed at e.g., GPCRs and neurotransmitter transporters.
As yet, direct evidence connecting pre- or postsynaptic retromer systems with pathology are not at hand but, as discussed above, there are many plausible links (Figure 3). Adding to these, another possible connection has recently emerged, which is related to phase separation of proteins (Gomes and Shorter,
Future experiments focused on the link between synaptic retromer systems and the synapse pathology in AD and PD may proceed along different lines. One may relate to improved knowledge about synapse-specific accessory proteins. It would, for example, be of key interest to identify negative regulators that could be used as drug targets. Another line may focus on retromer-stabilizing pharmacological chaperones (Mecozzi et al.,
Statements
Author contributions
Both authors have contributed to ideas and writing of the manuscript.
Funding
This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council, Hjärnfonden, Parkinsonfonden and the RSF grant 16-15-1023.
Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. Shaohua Xu for help with Figure 1.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Summary
Keywords
retromer, VPS35, synaptic vesicle, endosome, ionotropic receptor, G protein-coupled receptor, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease
Citation
Brodin L and Shupliakov O (2018) Retromer in Synaptic Function and Pathology. Front. Synaptic Neurosci. 10:37. doi: 10.3389/fnsyn.2018.00037
Received
16 August 2018
Accepted
03 October 2018
Published
24 October 2018
Volume
10 - 2018
Edited by
Francisco J. Barrantes, Laboratorio de Neurobiología Molecular, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas (BIOMED UCA-CONICET), Argentina
Reviewed by
Eckart D. Gundelfinger, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology (LG), Germany; Oksana Sorokina, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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© 2018 Brodin and Shupliakov.
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*Correspondence: Lennart Brodin lennart.brodin@ki.se
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