Systems biology and physical biology of clathrin-mediated endocytosis (original) (raw)
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Dynamics of clathrin and adaptor proteins during endocytosis
AJP: Cell Physiology, 2006
The endocytic adaptor complex AP-2 colocalizes with the majority of clathrin-positive spots at the cell surface. However, we previously observed that AP-2 is excluded from internalizing clathrin-coated vesicles (CCVs). The present studies quantitatively demonstrate that AP-2 disengages from sites of endocytosis seconds before internalization of the nascent CCV. In contrast, epsin, an alternate adaptor for clathrin at the plasma membrane, disappeared, along with clathrin. This suggests that epsin remains an integral part of the CCV throughout endocytosis. Clathrin spots at the cell surface represent a heterogeneous population: a majority (70%) of the spots disappeared with a time course of 4 min, whereas a minority (22%) remained static for Ն30 min. The static clathrin spots undergo constant subunit exchange, suggesting that although they are static structures, these spots comprise functional clathrin molecules, rather than dead-end aggregates. These results support a model where AP-2 serves a cargo-sorting function before endocytosis, whereas alternate adaptors, such as epsin, actually link cargo to the clathrin coat surrounding nascent endocytic vesicles. These data also support a role for static clathrin, providing a nucleation site for endocytosis. adaptor complex; epsin; total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy
Membrane Tension Inhibits Deformation by Coat Proteins in Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis
Biophysical Journal, 2016
In clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME), clathrin and various adaptor proteins coat a patch of the plasma membrane, which is reshaped to form a budded vesicle. Experimental studies have demonstrated that elevated membrane tension can inhibit bud formation by a clathrin coat. In this study, we investigate the impact of membrane tension on the mechanics of membrane budding by simulating clathrin coats that either grow in area or progressively induce greater curvature. At low membrane tension, progressively increasing the area of a curvature-generating coat causes the membrane to smoothly evolve from a flat to budded morphology, whereas the membrane remains essentially flat at high membrane tensions. Interestingly, at physiologically relevant, intermediate membrane tensions, the shape evolution of the membrane undergoes a snapthrough instability in which increasing coat area causes the membrane to "snap" from an open, U-shaped bud to a closed, Ω-shaped bud. This instability is accompanied by a large energy barrier, which could cause a developing endocytic pit to stall if the binding energy of additional coat is insufficient to overcome this barrier. Similar results were found for a coat of constant area in which the spontaneous curvature progressively increases. Additionally, a pulling force on the bud, simulating a force from actin polymerization, is sufficient to drive a transition from an open to closed bud, overcoming the energy barrier opposing this transition.
Design principles for robust vesiculation in clathrin-mediated endocytosis
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017
A critical step in cellular-trafficking pathways is the budding of membranes by protein coats, which recent experiments have demonstrated can be inhibited by elevated membrane tension. The robustness of processes like clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) across a diverse range of organisms and mechanical environments suggests that the protein machinery in this process has evolved to take advantage of some set of physical design principles to ensure robust vesiculation against opposing forces like membrane tension. Using a theoretical model for membrane mechanics and membrane protein interaction, we have systematically investigated the influence of membrane rigidity, curvature induced by the protein coat, area covered by the protein coat, membrane tension, and force from actin polymerization on bud formation. Under low tension, the membrane smoothly evolves from a flat to budded morphology as the coat area or spontaneous curvature increases, whereas the membrane remains essentially fl...
A High Precision Survey of the Molecular Dynamics of Mammalian Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis
Microscopy and Microanalysis, 2011
Dual colour total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy is a powerful tool for decoding the molecular dynamics of clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME). Typically, the recruitment of a fluorescent protein-tagged endocytic protein was referenced to the disappearance of spot-like clathrin-coated structure (CCS), but the precision of spot-like CCS disappearance as a marker for canonical CME remained unknown. Here we have used an imaging assay based on total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy to detect scission events with a resolution of ,2 s. We found that scission events engulfed comparable amounts of transferrin receptor cargo at CCSs of different sizes and CCS did not always disappear following scission. We measured the recruitment dynamics of 34 types of endocytic protein to scission events: Abp1, ACK1, amphiphysin1, APPL1, Arp3, BIN1, CALM, CIP4, clathrin light chain (Clc), cofilin, coronin1B, cortactin, dynamin1/ 2, endophilin2, Eps15, Eps8, epsin2, FBP17, FCHo1/2, GAK, Hip1R, lifeAct, mu2 subunit of the AP2 complex, myosin1E, myosin6, NECAP, N-WASP, OCRL1, Rab5, SNX9, synaptojanin2b1, and syndapin2. For each protein we aligned ,1,000 recruitment profiles to their respective scission events and constructed characteristic ''recruitment signatures'' that were grouped, as for yeast, to reveal the modular organization of mammalian CME. A detailed analysis revealed the unanticipated recruitment dynamics of SNX9, FBP17, and CIP4 and showed that the same set of proteins was recruited, in the same order, to scission events at CCSs of different sizes and lifetimes. Collectively these data reveal the fine-grained temporal structure of CME and suggest a simplified canonical model of mammalian CME in which the same core mechanism of CME, involving actin, operates at CCSs of diverse sizes and lifetimes. Citation: Taylor MJ, Perrais D, Merrifield CJ (2011) A High Precision Survey of the Molecular Dynamics of Mammalian Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis. PLoS Biol 9(3): e1000604.
Endocytic Clathrin Coats Develop Curvature at Early Stages of Their Formation
Sculpting a flat patch of membrane into an endocytic vesicle requires curvature generation on the cell surface, which is the primary function of endocytic protein complexes. The mechanism through which membrane curvature is imposed during formation of clathrin-coated vesicles is an ongoing controversy. Using super-resolved live cell fluorescence imaging, we demonstrate that curvature generation by clathrin-coated pits can be detected in real time within cultured cells and tissues of developing metazoan organisms. We found that the footprint of clathrin coats increase monotonically during formation of curved pits at different levels of plasma membrane tension. These findings are only compatible with models that predict curvature generation at early stages of endocytic clathrin-coated pit formation. Therefore, curvature generation by clathrin coats does not necessitate a dynamically unstable clathrin lattice that would allow an abrupt flat-to-curved transition.
Induced nanoscale membrane curvature bypasses the essential endocytic function of clathrin
Journal of Cell Biology
During clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME), flat plasma membrane is remodeled to produce nanometer-scale vesicles. The mechanisms underlying this remodeling are not completely understood. The ability of clathrin to bind membranes of distinct geometries casts uncertainty on its specific role in curvature generation/stabilization. Here, we used nanopatterning to produce substrates for live-cell imaging, with U-shaped features that bend the ventral plasma membrane of a cell into shapes resembling energetically unfavorable CME intermediates. This induced membrane curvature recruits CME proteins, promoting endocytosis. Upon AP2, FCHo1/2, or clathrin knockdown, CME on flat substrates is severely diminished. However, induced membrane curvature recruits CME proteins in the absence of FCHo1/2 or clathrin and rescues CME dynamics/cargo uptake after clathrin (but not AP2 or FCHo1/2) knockdown. Induced membrane curvature enhances CME protein recruitment upon branched actin assembly inhibition u...
SUMMARYForce generation due to actin assembly is a fundamental aspect of membrane sculpting for many essential processes. In this work, we use a multiscale computational model constrained by experimental measurements to show that a minimal branched actin network is sufficient to internalize endocytic pits against physiological membrane tension. A parameter sweep identified the number of Arp2/3 complexes as particularly important for robust internalization, which prompted the development of a molecule-counting method in live mammalian cells. Using this method, we found that ~200 Arp2/3 complexes assemble at sites of clathrin-mediated endocytosis in human cells. Our simulations also revealed that actin networks self-organize in a radial branched array with barbed filament ends oriented to grow toward the base of the pit, and that the distribution of linker proteins around the endocytic pit is critical for this organization. Surprisingly, our model predicted that long actin filaments b...
Spatial regulation of clathrin-mediated endocytosis through position-dependent site maturation
Journal of Cell Biology
During clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME), over 50 different proteins assemble on the plasma membrane to reshape it into a cargo-laden vesicle. It has long been assumed that cargo triggers local CME site assembly in Saccharomyces cerevisiae based on the discovery that cortical actin patches, which cluster near exocytic sites, are CME sites. Quantitative imaging data reported here lead to a radically different view of which CME steps are regulated and which steps are deterministic. We quantitatively and spatially describe progression through the CME pathway and pinpoint a cargo-sensitive regulatory transition point that governs progression from the initiation phase of CME to the internalization phase. Thus, site maturation, rather than site initiation, accounts for the previously observed polarized distribution of actin patches in this organism. While previous studies suggested that cargo ensures its own internalization by regulating either CME initiation rates or frequency of abort...
Clathrin-independent pathways of endocytosis
Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology, 2014
There are many pathways of endocytosis at the cell surface that apparently operate at the same time. With the advent of new molecular genetic and imaging tools, an understanding of the different ways by which a cell may endocytose cargo is increasing by leaps and bounds. In this review we explore pathways of endocytosis that occur in the absence of clathrin. These are referred to as clathrin-independent endocytosis (CIE). Here we primarily focus on those pathways that function at the small scale in which some have distinct coats (caveolae) and others function in the absence of specific coated intermediates. We follow the trafficking itineraries of the material endocytosed by these pathways and finally discuss the functional roles that these pathways play in cell and tissue physiology. It is likely that these pathways will play key roles in the regulation of plasma membrane area and tension and also control the availability of membrane during cell migration.