The yeast clathrin adaptor protein complex 1 is required for the efficient retention of a subset of late Golgi membrane proteins.

In yeast, certain resident trans-Golgi network (TGN) proteins achieve steady-state localization by cycling through late endosomes. Here, we show that chitin synthase III (Chs3p), an enzyme involved in the assembly of the cell wall at the mother-bud junction, populates an intracellular reservoir that is maintained by a cycle of transport between the TGN and early endosomes. Traffic of Chs3p from the TGN/early endosome to the cell surface requires CHS5 and CHS6, mutant alleles of which trap Chs3p in the TGN/early endosome. Disruption of the clathrin adaptor protein complex 1 (AP-1) restores Chs3p transport to the plasma membrane. Similarly, in AP-1 deficient cells, the resident TGN/early endosome syntaxin, Tlg1p, is missorted. We propose that clathrin and AP-1 act to recycle Chs3p and Tlg1p from the early endosome to the TGN.