Cortactin and dynamin are required for the clathrinin-dependent endocytosis of γc cytokine receptor

Endocytosis is critical for many cellular functions. We show that endocytosis of the common gammac cytokine receptor is clathrin independent by using a dominant-negative mutant of Eps15 or RNA interference to knock down clathrin heavy chain. This pathway is synaptojanin independent and requires the GTPase dynamin. In addition, this process requires actin polymerization. To further characterize the function of dynamin in clathrin-independent enclocytosis, in particular its connection with the actin cytoskeleton, we focused on dynamin-binding proteins that interact with F-actin. We compared the involvement of these proteins in the clathrin-dependent and -independent pathways. Thus, we observed that intersectin, syndapin, and mAbp1, which are necessary for the uptake of transferrin (Tf), a marker of the clathrin route, are not required for gammac receptor enclocytosis. Strikingly, cortactin is needed for both gammac and Tf internalizations. These results reveal the ubiquitous action of cortactin in internalization processes and suggest its role as a linker between actin dynamics and clathrin-dependent and -independent enclocytosis.