The cellular functions of clathrin

Membranes and proteins are moved around the cell in small vesicles. A protein coat aids the budding of such vesicles from donor membranes. The major type of coat used by the cell is composed of clathrin, a three-legged protein that can form lattice-like coats on membranes destined for trafficking. In this review, I outline what we know about clathrin and discuss some recent advances in understanding the basic biology of this fascinating molecule, which include building a molecular model of a clathrin lattice and discovery of a new function for clathrin that occurs during mitosis.