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Endocytosis From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search

Endocytosis is the process by which cells absorb material (molecules such as proteins) from outside the cell by engulfing it with their cell membrane. It is used by all cells of the body because most substances important to them are large polar molecules that cannot pass through the hydrophobic plasma membrane or cell membrane. The process opposite to endocytosis is exocytosis.

Contents [hide] 1 Types 2 Endocytosis pathways 3 Clathrin-mediated endocytosis 4 External links

[edit] Types Phagocytosis (literally, cell-eating) is the process by which cells ingest particular matter larger than around 0.75 µm in diameter, such as cells which have undergone apoptosis, bacteria, or viruses. The membrane folds around the object (engulfs), and the object is sealed off into a large vacuole known as a phagosome. Pinocytosis (literally, cell-drinking). This process is concerned with the uptake of solutes and single molecules such as proteins. Receptor-mediated endocytosis is a more specific active event where the cytoplasm membrane folds inward to form coated pits. These inward budding vesicles bud to form cytoplasmic vesicles.

[edit] Endocytosis pathways Classically there are five types of endocytosis: namely, clathrin-mediated endocytosis, macropinocytosis, phagocytosis, caveolar endocytosis, and Dynamin- and clathrin-independent endocytosis.

clathrin-mediated endocytosis is mediated by small (approx. 100 nm in diameter) vesicles that have a morphologically characteristic crystalline coat made up of a complex of proteins that mainly associated with the cytosolic protein clathrin. Clathrin-coated vesicles (CCVs) are found in virtually all cells and form from domains of the plasma membrane termed clathrin-coated pits. Coated pits can concentrate a large extracellular molecules that are different receptors responsible for the receptor-mediated endocytosis of ligands, e.g. low density lipoprotein, transferrin, growth factors, antibodies and many others. Macropinocytosis is the invagination of the cell membrane to form a pocket, which then pinches off into the cell to form a vesicle (0.5-5µm in diameter)filled with large volume of extracellular fluid and molecules within it (equivalent to 103 to 106 CCVs). The filling of the pocket occurs in a non-specific manner. The vesicle then travels into the cytosol and fuses with other vesicles such as endosomes and lysosomes. Caveolae consist of the cholesterol-binding protein caveolin (Vip21) with a bilayer enriched in cholesterol and glycolipids. Caveolae are small (approx. 50 nm in diameter) flask-shape pits in the membrane that resemble the shape of a cave (hence the name caveolae) seen in many, but not all cell types. Uptake of extracellular molecules are also believed to be specifically mediated via receptors in caveolae. Phagocytosis involved in the uptake of large particular ligands including bacteria and apoptotic cells. Dynamin- and clathrin-independent endocytosis has been More recent experiments have suggested that these morphological descriptions of endocytic events may be inadequate, and a more appropriate method of classification may be based upon the clathrin-dependence of particular pathways, with multiple subtypes of clathrin-dependent and clathrin-independent endocytosis. Mechanistic insight into non-phagocytic, clathrin-independent endocytosis has been lacking, but a recent study has shown how Graf1 regulates a highly prevalent clathrin-independent endocytic pathway known as the CLIC/GEEC pathway[1].

[edit] Clathrin-mediated endocytosis The major route for endocytosis in most cells, and the best-understood, is that mediated by the molecule clathrin. This large protein assists in the formation of a coated pit on the inner surface of the plasma membrane of the cell. This pit then buds into the cell to form a coated vesicle in the cytoplasm of the cell. In so doing, it brings into the cell not only a small area of the surface of the cell but also a small volume of fluid from outside the cell.

Vesicles selectively concentrate and exclude certain proteins during formation and are not representative of the membrane as a whole. AP2 adaptors are multisubunit complexes that perform this function at the plasma membrane. The best-understood receptors that are found concentrated in coated vesicles of mammalian cells are the LDL receptor (which removes LDL from circulating blood), the transferrin receptor (which brings ferric ions bound by transferrin into the cell) and certain hormone receptors (such as that for EGF).

At any one moment, about 25% of the plasma membrane of a fibroblast is made up of coated pits. As a coated pit has a life of about a minute before it buds into the cell, a fibroblast takes up its surface by this route about once every 16 minutes. Coated vesicles formed from the plasma membrane have a diameter of about 36 nm and a lifetime measured in a few seconds. Once the coat has been shed, the remaining vesicle fuses with endosomes and proceeds down the endocytic pathway. The actual budding-in process, whereby a pit is converted to a vesicle, is carried out by clathrin assisted by a set of cytoplasmic proteins, which includes dynamin and adaptors such as adaptin.

Coated pits and vesicles were first seen in thin sections of tissue in the electron microscope by Matt Lions and Parker George. The importance of them for the clearance of LDL from blood was discovered by R. G Anderson, Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein in 1976. Coated vesicles were first purified by Barbara Pearse, who discovered the clathrin coat molecule.

[edit] External links A comprehensive review of endocytosis and endocytic mechanisms by Doherty and McMahon Endocytosis at biologyreference.com Endocytosis - researching endocytic mechanisms at endocytosis.org Clathrin-mediated endocytosis ASCB Image & Video Library