Premium
Understanding Living Clathrin‐Coated Pits
Author(s) -
Rappoport Joshua Z.,
Simon Sanford M.,
Benmerah Alexandre
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
traffic
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.677
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1600-0854
pISSN - 1398-9219
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0854.2004.00187.x
Subject(s) - biology , clathrin , microbiology and biotechnology , endocytosis , receptor , biochemistry
Most knowledge of clathrin‐mediated endocytosis has been gained by biochemical fractionation and in vitro assays. Recently, the study of endocytosis has extended into the living cell. The tracking of individual clathrin‐coated pits and vesicles (CCPs and CCVs) has provided new insight into understanding the dynamic nature of CCPs. The use of total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIR‐FM), also termed evanescent field microscopy, has enabled the direct observation of events occurring within a restricted area of the cell adjacent to and including the adherent plasma membrane. TIR‐FM is now actively being pursued in the study of endocytic processes. The direct observation of CCP‐associated proteins including clathrin itself, dynamin and, most recently, AP‐2 has considerably challenged old models, confirming some points but raising very interesting new questions.