Receptor-mediated endocytosis in plants

Abstract

Introducing the concept of receptor-mediated endocytosis (RME) has completely changed the traditional view of endocytosis as a process by which cells simply transport molecules from the plasma membrane (PM) and extracellular space. Internalization of molecules by means of specific cell-surface receptors led to the notion that endocytosis is the master organizer of cellular signalling. RME spatially regulates the signalling outputs of PM receptors by either targeting them for degradation or relocating them to signalling endosomes. Recent studies revealed highly conserved mechanisms behind RME in all eukaryotes, including plants, demonstrating a major role of clathrin as well as post-translational modifications (PTMs) of PM receptors, such as ubiquitination and phosphorylation. In this chapter, we will review the latest data on RME in plants and its function in regulating receptor-mediated signalling. While these recent developments contributed to a better understanding of RME in plants, further work is needed to precisely describe the molecular machinery and to resolve the signalling role of receptor pools localized to different endomembrane compartments.