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KANAZAWA, Japan, July 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ Researchers at Kanazawa University report in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences how a protein molecular motor can chop off a piece of cell membrane. The constrict-and-cut mechanism resembles that of a ratchet motor, and is of importance in processes mediating the entry of particles into cells.
Cells in the human body constantly receive substances from the outside via a process called endocytosis. One important endocytosis pathway involves the formation of a protrusion within the cell membrane, pointing to the inside of the cell, triggered when a molecule needing to get in reaches the membrane. The protrusion wraps and closes around the molecule, after which it is cut off, leaving the wrapped molecule (a so-called vesicle) inside the cell. A key role in the cutting-off mechanism is played by dynamin, a protein that can locally constrict cell membranes, and chop off bits. The precise constriction
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