Nature Cell Biology· 2026Q1
Quantification of lipid sorting during clathrin-mediated endocytosis
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Clathrin-mediated endocytosis shows minor selectivity for cytoplasmic leaflet lipids, with partitioning differences ranging from slight enrichment to moderate exclusion for ten lipid species, but does not substantially contribute to overall lipid sorting.
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Key points
- Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) was investigated for its role in lipid sorting.
- Super-resolution imaging and mathematical modeling were used to quantify lipid partitioning in clathrin-coated pits.
- Ten different lipid species showed varying degrees of enrichment or exclusion within the pits.
- The observed lipid trends can be explained by existing plasma membrane lipid asymmetry.
- CME exhibits minor selectivity for cytoplasmic leaflet lipids but is not a major contributor to lipid sorting.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Clathrin-mediated endocytosis is a major transport route for proteins from the plasma membrane to the interior of the cell. While the recruitment of cargo proteins to clathrin-coated pits is well understood, it remains an open question whether lipids are also sorted by this process. Here, to address this question, we combined super-resolution stimulated emission depletion imaging of bifunctional lipid probes with mathematical modelling. Quantification of ten different lipid species revealed significant differences in pit partitioning, ranging from slight enrichment to moderate exclusion. We find that the lipid asymmetry in the plasma membrane is sufficient to explain the observed trend. Taken together, our findings imply that clathrin-mediated endocytosis has a minor selectivity for cytoplasmic leaflet lipids, but overall does not substantially contribute to lipid sorting compared with non-vesicular trafficking.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Nature Cell Biology, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Cell Biology
Cell BiologyBiochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology