Clathrin-coated Vesicle

Clathrin-coated vesicles mediate transport within the late secretory and the endocytic pathways. Their major coat constituents are clathrin and various adaptor complexes. 

Along their route through the Golgi, secretory and membrane proteins destined for the various post-Golgi pathways are intermixed. Thus, proteins of distinct routes, i.e. the endosomal and the secretory route, are sorted into individual types of transport vesicles at the TGN. Among the best characterized types of TGN-derived vesicles are clathrin-coated vesicles. In addition, several types of non-clathrin-coated vesicles have been identified but their specific functions remain to be characterized. 

Biochemical characterization of clathrin-coated vesicles revealed that their major coat components are clathrin and various types of adaptor complexes. Clathrin assembles in triskelions that consist of three heavy chains of approximately 190 kDa and three light chains of 30 40 kDa. Four types of adaptor complexes have been identified to date, AP-1, AP-2, AP-3 and AP-4 (AP for adaptor protein). Whereas AP-1, AP-3 and AP-4 mediate sorting events at the TGN and/or endosomes, AP-2 is involved in endocytosis at the plasma membrane. Each adaptor complex is a hetero-tetrameric protein complex, and the term adaptin was extended to all subunits of these complexes. One complex is composed of two large adaptins (one each of y/a/S/s and [31-4, respectively, 90-130 kDa), one medium adaptin (pi -4, <50 kDa), and one small adaptin (ol-4, <20 kDa). In contrast to AP-1, AP-2 and AP-3, which interact directly with clathrin and are part of the clathrin-coated vesicles, AP-4 seems to be involved in budding of a certain type of non-clathrin-coated vesicles at the TGN. 

A pre-requisite for clathrin-coat assembly is the recruitment to the membrane of an adaptor complex. Similar to what has been observed for the recruitment of coatomer to Golgi membranes, adaptor binding is dependent on the presence of ARF-GTP. However, in contrast to COPI vesicle formation, ARF-GTP is suggested to act in a process before budding and not as a stoichiometric coat component. Other differences between COP-coated and clathrin-coated vesicles concern their uncoating mechanism. Disassembly of clathrin-coated vesicles is believed to depend on the chaperoneHSC 70 and on auxilin. 

Clathrin-coated Pits Clathrin-coated Vesicle CLC... 

Most proteins that are synthesized on membrane-bound polyribosomes and are destined for the Golgi apparatus or plasma membrane reach these sites inside transport vesicles. The precise mechanisms by which proteins synthesized in the rough ER are inserted into these vesicles are not known. Those involved in transport from the ER to the Golgi apparatus and vice versa—and from the Golgi to the plasma membrane— are mainly clathrin-free, unlike the coated vesicles involved in endocytosis (see discussions of the LDL receptor in Chapters 25 and 26). For the sake of clarity, the non-clathrin-coated vesicles will be referred to in... 

A Model of Non-Clathrin-Coated Vesicles Involves SNAREs Other Factors... 

Clathrin-coated vesicles mediate transport from the Golgi apparatus to endosomes, and from the plasma membrane to endosomes. A multi-subunit protein, clath-rin, constitutes the major protein of this vesicle type (see Ch. 2). Clathrin is composed of three large and three small polypeptide chains, which assemble to form a triskelion (Fig. 9-2). Regulatory mechanisms control the assembly and formation of a convex, polyhexa-pentagonal basketlike structure by these triskelions [5], This structure is responsible for the formation of coated pits on the cytosolic face of plasma membranes. 

Another major protein component of clathrin-coated vesicles, generally known as adaptins, bind and link clathrin coats to the membrane [5], Multiple types of adaptins have been described, each type binding a unique set of cargo receptors and associated to a specific membrane organelle. Different sets of adaptins participate in forming the coat assembly complexes for the Golgi (API) and the plasma membrane (AP2). Sequential assembly and... 

Extracellular ligands (hormones, neurotrophins, carrier protein, adhesion molecules, small molecules, etc.) will bind to specific transmembrane receptors. This binding of specific ligand induces the concentration of the receptor in coated pits and internalization via clathrin-coated vesicles. One of the best studied and characterized examples of RME is the internalization of cholesterol by mammalian cells [69]. In the nervous system, there are a plethora of different membrane receptors that bind extracellular molecules, including neurotrophins, hormones and other cell modulators, being the best studied examples. This type of clathrin-mediated endocytosis is an amazingly efficient process, capable of concentrating... 

In the classic model of synaptic vesicle recycling in nerve terminals, synaptic vesicles fuse completely with the plasma membrane and the integrated vesicle proteins move away from the active zone to adjacent membrane regions (Fig. 9-9A). In these regions, clathrin-mediated synaptic vesicle endocytosis takes place rapidly after neurotransmitter release (within seconds) [64]. The process starts with the formation of a clathrin-coated pit that invaginates toward the interior of the cell and pinches off to form a clathrin-coated vesicle [83]. Coated vesicles are transient organelles that rapidly shed their coats in an ATP/chaperone dependent process. Once uncoated, the recycled vesicle fuses with a local EE for reconstitution as a synaptic vesicle. Subsequently, the recycled synaptic vesicle is filled with neurotransmitter and it returns to the release site ready for use. This may be the normal pathway when neurotransmitter release rates are modest. Clathrin/ EE-based pathways become essential when synaptic proteins have been incorporated into the presynaptic plasma membrane. 

Schmid, S. L. Clathrin-coated vesicle formation and protein sorting an integrated process. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 66 511-548,1997. 

Clathrin-Coated Vesicles and Adaptor Protein Complexes... 

The distinction between these routes corresponds to the differential uses of transport vesicles (Le Borgne and Hoflack, 1998a) that is, the clathrin-coated vesicles with the adaptor, AP-1, are used in the pathway from the Golgi (TGN) to the endosome the vesicles with clathrin and AP-2 are used in the pathway from the plasma membrane to the endosome (endocytosis itself) and the ones with clathrin and AP-3 seem to be used from the endosome to the lysosome (although there is a dispute on whether or not AP-3 binds to clathrin). 

Le Borgne, R., and Hoflack, B. (1998a). Mechanisms of protein sorting and coat assembly insights from the clathrin-coated vesicle pathway. Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 10, 499-503. Le Borgne, R., and Hoflack, B. (1998b). Protein transport from the secretory to the endocytic pathway in mammalian cells. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1404, 195-209. 

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