Seeing is believing: imaging actin dynamics at single sites of endocytosis

Endocytosis is characterized by movement and precisely controlled changes in membrane geometry during vesicle formation. Recent developments in live-cell imaging have enabled such movements to be monitored in vivo and correlated with the recruitment and dismissal of fluorescently labeled proteins. This experimental strategy has revealed the sequential recruitment of proteins that are involved in actin polymerization, and actin to single sites of endocytosis in both yeast and mammalian cells. Actin polymerization is correlated with the inward movements of endocytic organelles, which suggests that actin polymerization has a conserved role in this process. In this article, I will discuss three models for the role of actin polymerization in endocytosis.