Proton-gated anion transport governs macropinosome shrinkage

Intracellular organelles change their size during trafficking and maturation. This requires the transport of ions and water across their membranes. Macropinocytosis, a ubiquitous form of endocytosis of particular importance for immune and cancer cells, generates large vacuoles that can be followed optically. Shrinkage of macrophage macropinosomes depends on TPC-mediated Na(+) efflux and Cl(−) exit through unknown channels. Relieving osmotic pressure facilitates vesicle budding, positioning osmotic shrinkage upstream of vesicular sorting and trafficking. Here we identify the missing macrophage Cl(−) channel as the proton-activated Cl(−) channel ASOR/TMEM206. ASOR activation requires Na(+)-mediated depolarization and luminal acidification by redundant transporters including H(+)-ATPases and CLC 2Cl(−)/H(+) exchangers. As corroborated by mathematical modelling, feedback loops requiring the steep voltage and pH dependencies of ASOR and CLCs render vacuole resolution resilient towards transporter copy numbers. TMEM206 disruption increased albumin-dependent survival of cancer cells. Our work suggests a function for the voltage and pH dependence of ASOR and CLCs, provides a comprehensive model for ion-transport-dependent vacuole maturation and reveals biological roles of ASOR.