Sorting of Dendritic and Axonal Vesicles at the Pre-axonal Exclusion Zone

Polarized sorting of newly synthesized proteins to the somatodendritic and axonal domains of neurons occurs by selective incorporation into distinct populations of vesicular transport carriers. An unresolved issue is how the vesicles themselves are sorted to their corresponding neuronal domains. Previous studies concluded that the axon initial segment (AIS) is an actin-based filter that selectively prevents passage of somatodendritic vesicles into the axon. We find, however, that most somatodendritic vesicles fail to enter the axon at a more proximal region in the axon hillock, herein referred to as the pre-axonal exclusion zone (PAEZ). Forced coupling of a somatodendritic cargo protein to an axonally directed kinesin is sufficient to drive transport of whole somatodendritic vesicles through the PAEZ toward the distal axon. Based on these findings, we propose that polarized sorting of transport vesicles occurs at the PAEZ and depends on the ability of the vesicles to acquire an appropriately directed microtubule motor.