Presynaptic targeting of botulinum neurotoxin type A requires a tripartite PSG‐Syt1‐SV2 plasma membrane nanocluster for synaptic vesicle entry

Merja Joensuu, Parnayan Syed, Saber H Saber, Vanessa Lanoue, Tristan P Wallis, James Rae, Ailisa Blum, Rachel S Gormal, Christopher Small, Shanley Sanders, Anmin Jiang, Stefan Mahrhold, Nadja Krez, Michael A Cousin, Ruby Cooper‐White, Justin J Cooper‐White, Brett M Collins, Robert G Parton, Giuseppe Balistreri, Andreas Rummel, Frédéric A Meunier

The unique nerve terminal targeting of botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) is due to its capacity to bind two receptors on the neuronal plasma membrane: polysialoganglioside (PSG) and synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2 (SV2). Whether and how PSGs and SV2 may coordinate other proteins for BoNT/A recruitment and internalization remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the targeted endocytosis of BoNT/A into synaptic vesicles (SVs) requires a tripartite surface nanocluster. Live-cell super-resolution imaging and electron microscopy of catalytically inactivated BoNT/A wildtype and receptor-binding-deficient mutants in cultured hippocampal neurons demonstrated that BoNT/A must bind coincidentally to a PSG and SV2 to target synaptic vesicles. We reveal that BoNT/A simultaneously interacts with a preassembled PSG-synaptotagmin-1 (Syt1) complex and SV2 on the neuronal plasma membrane, facilitating Syt1-SV2 nanoclustering that controls endocytic sorting of the toxin into synaptic vesicles. Syt1 CRISPRi knockdown suppressed BoNT/A- and BoNT/E-induced neurointoxication as quantified by SNAP-25 cleavage, suggesting that this tripartite nanocluster may be a unifying entry point for selected botulinum neurotoxins that hijack this for synaptic vesicle targeting.