Molecular Structure, Function, and Dynamics of Clathrin-Mediated Membrane Traffic (original) (raw)

1. David Owen2 and
2. Stephen C. Harrison3
3. 1Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School/PCMM, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
4. 2Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2XY, United Kingdom
5. 3Jack and Eileen Connors Structural Biology Laboratory, Harvard Medical School and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
6. Correspondence: kirchhausen{at}crystal.harvard.edu

Abstract

Clathrin is a molecular scaffold for vesicular uptake of cargo at the plasma membrane, where its assembly into cage-like lattices underlies the clathrin-coated pits of classical endocytosis. This review describes the structures of clathrin, major cargo adaptors, and other proteins that participate in forming a clathrin-coated pit, loading its contents, pinching off the membrane as a lattice-enclosed vesicle, and recycling the components. It integrates as much of the structural information as possible at the time of writing into a sketch of the principal steps in coated-pit and coated-vesicle formation.

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