Receptor-mediated endocytosis

Vesicle

Cell

Chemistry

Cytoplasm

Endocytosis

Membrane

Biochemistry

Clathrin

Endocytic cycle

Biology

Cell biology

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis is the main mechanism for internalization of cell-surface molecules and surface-bound cargoes. Although the machineries that drive the formation of endocytic vesicle are intricate, an understanding of endocytosis is being unravelled at the molecular level. Clathrin-mediated endocytosis is a key process in vesicular trafficking that transports a wide range of cargo molecules from the cell surface to the interior. Clathrin-mediated endocytosis was first described over 5 decades ago. Since its discovery, over 50 proteins have been shown to be part of the molecular machinery that generates the clathrin-coated endocytic vesicles. These proteins and the different steps of the endocytic process that they mediate have been studied in detail. However, we still lack a good understanding of how all these different components work together in a highly coordinated manner to drive vesicle formation. Nevertheless, studies in recent years have provided several important insights into how endocytic vesicles are built, starting from initiation, cargo loading and the mechanisms governing membrane bending to membrane scission and the release of the vesicle into the cytoplasm.

Mechanisms of clathrin-mediated endocytosis