Phosphoinositide metabolism during membrane ruffling and macropinosome formation in EGF-stimulated A431 cells

Inhibitors of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) were found to perturb macropinosome formation without affecting the membrane ruffling and actin polymerization in epidermal growth factor-stimulated A431 cells. Live-cell imaging and quantitative image analysis of the fluorescence intensity ratio of the YFP-tagged phospholipase Cδ1-pleckstrin homology domain (YFP-PLC-PH) relative to membrane-targeted CFP (CFP-Mem) demonstrated that the concentration of PI(4,5)P 2 in the membrane ruffles forming macropinocytic cups increased to more than double that in planar plasma membranes. The PI(4,5)P 2 level in the membrane reached its maximum just before macropinosome closure and rapidly fell as the macropinocytic cups closed. In contrast, the PI(3,4,5)P 3 concentrations visualized based on the YFP-Akt-PH or YFP-Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk)-PH/CFP-Mem ratio increased locally at the site of macropinosome formation and peaked at the time of macropinosome closure. The kinetics of PI(4,5)P 2 and PI(3,4,5)P 3 appeared to be mechanistically linked to actin remodeling during macropinocytosis. From the pharmacological data using inhibitors and synthetic phosphoinositides and other data, it could be concluded that both PI(4,5)P 2 elimination and PI(3,4,5)P 3 production by PI3K might be crucial for macropinosome formation from membrane ruffles. This study emphasizes that locally controlled levels of phosphoinositides are important for regulating the function of actin-binding proteins which effect changes in the membrane architecture.