Behaviour of clathrin proteins, crucial for endocytosis, is
clarified using new imaging techniques
In a nutshell:
* Clathrin proteins
involved in endocytosis form a lattice that can dramatically change its shape
* Combination of
fluorescence microscopy and 3D electron microscopy allows quantitative data to
be analysed
** Results offer new understanding of role of clathrin in
endocytosis
(June 19, 2015) Researchers at EMBL Heidelberg have solved a
question that has puzzled cell biologists for decades – how does the protein
machine that allows cells to swallow up molecules during endocytosis function?
Endocytosis is the process by which cells engulf molecules
and draw them inside the cell where they perform different functions. This
engulfment involves making dimples in the cell membrane that deepen with time
and eventually seal off to make a spherical vesicle inside the cell. Essential
to the process is the formation of a lattice-like protein shell on the surface
of the vesicle membrane. However, there is still no consensus as to the exact
function of this coat. Even for the best understood coat protein, clathrin,
opinion has split between two different models.