Fol. Biol. 2003, 49, 238-240
Monoclonal Antibody BF-06 against the Heavy Chain of Clathrin
Clathin is a ubiquitously expressed protein which polymerizes into a coat-like lattice on the cytoplasmic surface of cellular membranes (Brodsky et al., 1988). Formation of a polyhedral lattice is enabled by selfassembly of clathrin triskelions, which are composed of three copies of clathrin heavy chain (~180kDa) and three light chain (~30kDa) subunits. Clathrin is a major component of coated vesicles (Pearse et al., 1975), from which it dissociates at higher ionie strength or at basic pH (Liu et al., 1995). Reassociation of purified clathrin in vitro occurs after lowering the pH. Clathin polymerization results in membrane invagination and is dynamically regulated by light chains in vivo. Clathrin-coated vesicles are responsible for both the receptor-mediated endocytosis and the secretory vesicle budding from the trans-Golgi network. Interaction of clathrin with the membrane is indirect and i s mediated by adaptor proteins (AP 1-4) specific for different cellular compartments (Kirchhausen, 1999). Immunofluorescence with anti-clathrin antibodies results in a punctuate staining of the vesicles in the perinuclear region of interphase cells. In mammalian cells, localization of clathrin on microtubular arrays of mitotic spindles was also reported (Okamoto et al., 2000).
Funding
This work was supported in parts by grant from the Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (IBS 5052301) and from the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic (LN00A026).
References
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