Endocytosis, DYK Fact #213

[Ebudae]

Last night, before going to bed, I watched a biology programme I had videoed from the BBC Learning Zone a long time ago. It was a programme about endocytosis.

Did you know? The membrane of a cell is littered with proteins that allow the passage of small particles into or out of the cell, but larger particles have to enter the cell by endocytosis. This involves the cell membrane wrapping around a particle, forming a vesicle which is “pinched off” (I believe that is the technical term ) from the membrane so that the particle is completely enclosed within the cytoplasm. Of course, only particles that the cell recognizes as “friendly” are allowed endocytotic entry into it. Unfortunately, some viruses – such as the Semliki Forest virus – can fool the cell into thinking they are “friends” and gain entry into it by endocytosis. Once inside the cell, the such a virus will embark on its destructive pathway, replicating and eventually killing the host cell to release more viruses.

[Athene_noctua]

Did you know? Phagocytosis and pinocytosis are forms of endocytosis.