Abstract

Membranes are fundamental to life. They divide the cell into functional compartments and provide the correct morphology for interaction with enzymes. In order to survive, cells must take up nutrients and exclude harmful constituents present in their environment. Membrane molecules to be transported into the cell, get concentrated in small membrane invaginations at the cell surface that eventually pinch off, to form free-floating vesicles within the cell. This process is called endocytosis. Since the mid-nineties there has been some consensus that mammalian cells have several different mechanisms to carry out the process of endocytosis. Nevertheless, little mechanistic insight has been gained over the last two decades for most of these pathways. During this talk I will present some recent findings that directly contradict this widely accepted view and I will discuss the experimental limitations that have led the scientific community to the opposite conclusions.