Clathrin: anatomy of a coat protein

Clathrin is a vesicle coat protein involved in the assembly of membrane and cargo into transport vesicles at the plasma membrane and on certain intrac ellular organelles. Recently, crystal structures of two separate parts of t he clathrin heavy chain, a fragment of the proximal leg and the N-terminal domain, have been analysed, providing the first high-resolution data for a vesicle coat protein. Viewing these structures in the context of a hexagona l barrel coat, recently determined to 21 Angstrom by cryo-electron microsco py, provides new insights into the assembly of clathrin coats.