Question:medium
Which of the following is clathrin involved in?
Which of the following is clathrin involved in?
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Clathrin-coated pits pinch off into vesicles that carry out receptor-mediated endocytosis, as with LDL or transferrin uptake.
Updated On: Jul 8, 2026
- Receptor mediated endocytosis
- Receptor independent endocytosis
- Receptor mediated exocytosis
- Receptor independent exocytosis
Show Solution
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Start with the shape of the protein.
Clathrin molecules link up into three legged units called triskelions, and many of these fit together into a curved basket-like lattice on the cytoplasmic side of the cell membrane.
Step 2: See what that basket does to the membrane.
As the lattice grows and curves, it drags the membrane in with it, forming a pit. Whatever is bound to receptors sitting in that patch of membrane gets trapped inside the forming pit. Dynamin then snips the neck of the pit free, releasing a coated vesicle inside the cell.
Step 3: Give this process its name.
Because the cargo entering the cell is selected by receptor binding, this whole route is called receptor mediated endocytosis. Classic textbook examples are the uptake of LDL particles through the LDL receptor and the uptake of iron bound transferrin through the transferrin receptor.
Step 4: Explain why the other three do not fit.
Bulk uptake without a receptor generally uses other coats or no coat at all, so clathrin is not its main tool. Exocytosis, receptor based or not, works through SNARE mediated vesicle fusion with the outer membrane, which is a different machinery from a clathrin coat pulling membrane inward.
Step 5: State the answer.
\[ \boxed{\text{Receptor mediated endocytosis}} \]
Clathrin molecules link up into three legged units called triskelions, and many of these fit together into a curved basket-like lattice on the cytoplasmic side of the cell membrane.
Step 2: See what that basket does to the membrane.
As the lattice grows and curves, it drags the membrane in with it, forming a pit. Whatever is bound to receptors sitting in that patch of membrane gets trapped inside the forming pit. Dynamin then snips the neck of the pit free, releasing a coated vesicle inside the cell.
Step 3: Give this process its name.
Because the cargo entering the cell is selected by receptor binding, this whole route is called receptor mediated endocytosis. Classic textbook examples are the uptake of LDL particles through the LDL receptor and the uptake of iron bound transferrin through the transferrin receptor.
Step 4: Explain why the other three do not fit.
Bulk uptake without a receptor generally uses other coats or no coat at all, so clathrin is not its main tool. Exocytosis, receptor based or not, works through SNARE mediated vesicle fusion with the outer membrane, which is a different machinery from a clathrin coat pulling membrane inward.
Step 5: State the answer.
\[ \boxed{\text{Receptor mediated endocytosis}} \]
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