Endocytosis of receptor tyrosine kinases

Endocytosis is the major regulator of signaling from receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). The canonical model of RTK endocytosis involves rapid internalization of an RTK activated by ligand binding at the cell surface and subsequent sorting of internalized ligand-RTK complexes to lysosomes for degradation. Activation of the intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity of RTKs results in autophosphorylation, which is mechanistically coupled to the recruitment of adaptor proteins and conjugation of ubiquitin to RTKs. Ubiquitination serves to mediate interactions of RTKs with sorting machineries both at the cell surface and on endosomes. The pathways and kinetics of RTK endocytic trafficking, molecular mechanisms underlying sorting processes, and examples of deviations from the standard trafficking itinerary in the RTK family are discussed in this work.