Dynamics of endocytic vesicle creation

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis is the main path for receptor internalization in metazoans and is essential for controlling cell integrity and signaling. It is driven by a large array of protein and lipid interactions that have been deciphered mainly by biochemical and genetic means. To place these interactions into context, and ultimately build a fully operative model of endocytosis at the molecular level, it is necessary to know the kinetic details of the role of each protein in this process. In this review, we describe the recent efforts made, by using live cell imaging, to define clear steps in the formation of endocytic vesicles and to observe the recruitment of key proteins during membrane invagination, the scission of a newly formed vesicle, and its movement away from the plasma membrane.