The cellular functions of clathrin
review
membrane traffic
mitosis
Citation
Royle, S.J. (2006). The cellular functions of clathrin. Cell Mol Life Sci 63, 1823–1832.
Abstract
Membranes and proteins are moved around the cell in small vesicles. A protein coat aids the budding of such vesicles from donor membranes. The major type of coat used by the cell is composed of clathrin, a three-legged protein that can form lattice-like coats on membranes destined for trafficking. In this review, I outline what we know about clathrin and discuss some recent advances in understanding the basic biology of this fascinating molecule, which include building a molecular model of a clathrin lattice and discovery of a new function for clathrin that occurs during mitosis.