Regulation of peroxisome and lipid droplet hitchhiking by PxdA and the DipA phosphatase

In canonical microtubule-based transport, adaptor proteins link cargos to the molecular motors dynein and kinesin. Recently, an alternative mode of transport known as hitchhiking was discovered, in which a cargo achieves motility by hitching a ride on an already-motile cargo, rather than attaching to a motor protein. Hitchhiking has been best-studied in two filamentous fungi, Aspergillus nidulans and Ustilago maydis. In U. maydis, ribonucleoprotein complexes, peroxisomes, lipid droplets, and endoplasmic reticulum all hitchhike on early endosomes. In A. nidulans, peroxisomes hitchhike using a putative molecular linker, PxdA, that associates with early endosomes. However, whether other organelles use PxdA to hitchhike on early endosomes is unclear, as are the molecular mechanisms that regulate hitchhiking in A. nidulans. Here we find that the proper distribution of lipid droplets, mitochondria and autophagosomes do not require PxdA, suggesting that PxdA is a molecular linker specific to peroxisomes. We also identify two new pxdA alleles, including a point mutation (R2044P) that disrupts PxdAs ability to associate with early endosomes and reduces peroxisome movement. Finally, we identify a novel regulator of peroxisome hitchhiking, the phosphatase DipA. DipA co-localizes with early endosomes and its early endosome-association relies on PxdA.