Clathrin

Clathrin was discovered nearly 25 years ago, Since then, a large number of other proteins that participate in the process by which clathrin-coated ves icles retrieve synaptic membranes or take up endocytic receptors have been identified. The functional relationships among these disparate components r emain, in many cases, obscure. High-resolution structures of parts of clath rin, determined by X-ray crystallography, and lower-resolution images of as sembled coats, determined by electron cryomicroscopy, now provide the infor mation necessary to integrate various lines of evidence and to design exper iments that test specific mechanistic notions. This review summarizes and i llustrates the recent structural results and outlines what is known about c oated-vesicle assembly in the context of this information.