Abstract
This chapter discusses the intracellular traffic of the asialoglycoprotein (ASGP) receptor and its ligands and integrates this information into the current understanding of intracellular compartments. Complementary DNA (cDNA) cloning and sequence analysis have provided insights into the receptor structure, and specific signals for the intracellular sorting are beginning to be identified. Since its discovery, the ASGP receptor has provided a useful experimental model for a variety of important biological processes. It has been instrumental in the analysis of insertion of proteins into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane, protein degradation in the ER, transport to the basolateral plasma membrane domain in epithelial cells, and, most prominently, in the analysis of receptor-mediated endocytosis. The receptor is a classical marker for the early endocytic compartments, while its ligands serve to delineate the intracellular organelles along the degradative route from the plasma membrane to lysosomes. The availability of the cDNAs of several endocytic receptors, among which is the ASGP receptor, is the basis of recent progress in the identification of sorting signals.
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