Sandbox8999

Clathrin Template:STRUCTURE 3lvg

History

The word clathrin originates from the Latin word clāthrāre, meaning “to provide with a lattice”. Clathrin is a protein involved in receptor-mediated endocytosis.1 It was not discovered until 1975 by Barbara Pearse, a British biological scientist. Clathrin is a protein resembling a triskelion shape and is composed of three heavy chains and three light chains which come together to form a polyhedral lattice similar to a cage. The three heavy chains resemble three legs protruding from a center point. Some of the major functions of clathrin include lysosomal targeting, receptor-mediated endocytosis, and organelle biogenesis from the trans-Golgi network.3 The polyhedral lattice shape of clathrin largely determines its functionality, in that there are many binding sites for proteins on the heavy chains of the lattice as well.

Structural highlights

This is a sample scene created with SAT to color by Group, and another to make a transparent representation of the protein. You can make your own scenes on SAT starting from scratch or loading and editing one of these sample scenes.

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