1. Bruce L. Goode*,¹,
2. Julian A. Eskin* and
3. Beverly Wendland^†,¹

+ Author Affiliations

Genetics February 1, 2015 vol. 199 no. 2 315-358

Abstract

Endocytosis, the process whereby the plasma membrane invaginates to form vesicles, is essential for bringing many substances into the cell and for membrane turnover. The mechanism driving clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) involves > 50 different protein components assembling at a single location on the plasma membrane in a temporally ordered and hierarchal pathway. These proteins perform precisely choreographed steps that promote receptor recognition and clustering, membrane remodeling, and force-generating actin-filament assembly and turnover to drive membrane invagination and vesicle scission. Many critical aspects of the CME mechanism are conserved from yeast to mammals and were first elucidated in yeast, demonstrating that it is a powerful system for studying endocytosis. In this review, we describe our current mechanistic understanding of each step in the process of yeast CME, and the essential roles played by actin polymerization at these sites, while providing a historical perspective of how the landscape has changed since the preceding version of the YeastBook was published 17 years ago (1997). Finally, we discuss the key unresolved issues and where future studies might be headed.

Figure 1 Stages of endocytic patch initiation, maturation, and turnover. The stages of progression (numbered 1–9) of an endocytic patch from initiation to membrane invagination, followed by scission and disassembly/uncoating, make components available for new rounds of patch formation (recycling). Boxes describe the concurrent sequential behavior of the actin cytoskeleton and actin-associated proteins during this process. Each icon represents a group of proteins with related functions, activities, and/or localization.