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Phagocytosis

Phagocytosis

Cells pull particles inward and engulf them in spherical vesicles in an energy-requiring process called endocytosis. Phagocytosis (“cellular eating”) is one of three major types of endocytosis. Cells use phagocytosis to take in large objects—such as other cells (or their debris), bacteria, and even viruses.The objective of phagocytosis is often destruction. Cells use phagocytosis to eliminate unwelcome visitors, like pathogens (e.g., viruses and bacteria). It is perhaps unsurprising, that many...

Phagocytosis

Phagocytosis

Cells pull particles inward and engulf them in spherical vesicles in an energy-requiring process called endocytosis. Phagocytosis ("cellular eating") is one of three major types of endocytosis. Cells use phagocytosis to take in large objects, such as other cells (or their debris), bacteria, and even viruses.
The objective of phagocytosis is often destruction. Cells use phagocytosis to eliminate unwelcome visitors, like pathogens (e.g., viruses and bacteria). Many immune system cells, including...

Intralumenal Vesicles and Multivesicular Bodies

Intralumenal Vesicles and Multivesicular Bodies

Intraluminal vesicles (ILVs) are small vesicles 50-80 nm in diameter formed during the maturation of early endosomes. A specialized endosome containing numerous ILVs is called a multivesicular body (MVB). ILVs contain internalized molecules such as antigens, nucleic acids, proteins, and metabolites. Some of these molecules are released from the MVBs inside exosomes and are transported to other cells. Other MVBs contain molecules that are retained in the ILVs and are later degraded within the...

Pinching-off of Coated Vesicles

Pinching-off of Coated Vesicles

Vesicle budding is orchestrated by distinct cytosolic proteins such as adaptor proteins, coat proteins, and GTPases. To initiate vesicle budding, membrane-bending proteins containing crescent-shaped BAR domains bind to the lipid heads in the bilayer and distort the membrane to form a protein-coated vesicle bud. Adaptors proteins such as AP2 for clathrin-coated vesicles can nucleate on the deformed membrane. Finally, coat proteins such as clathrin or COPI and COPII assemble into a coat forming...

Delivery Pathways to the Lysosome

Delivery Pathways to the Lysosome

Eukaryotic cells use different mechanisms to eliminate toxic waste obsolete and worn-out substances. Lysosomes play a pivotal role in this, and hence, these substances are carried to the lysosome from other parts of the cell and extracellular space through different pathways. The most elaborately studied pathways to the lysosome are the endocytic pathways.
Endocytosis
In endocytosis, the cell membrane takes up macromolecules and particles from the surrounding medium. Clathrin-mediated...

Clathrin Coated Vesicles

Clathrin Coated Vesicles

Clathrin-coated vesicles use endocytosis to transport receptors and lysosomal hydrolases from the Golgi to the lysosome in the late secretory pathway. Clathrin-mediated endocytosis was the first described endocytic process, and Clathrin-coated vesicles remain one of the most well-studied transport vesicles. The molecular machinery that generates clathrin-coated vesicles comprises over 50 proteins that precisely coordinate vesicle formation. Cell surface receptors concentrated in indented sites...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 20, 2026

"Phagosome Closure Assay" to Visualize Phagosome Formation in Three Dimensions Using Total Internal Reflection Fluorescent Microscopy (TIRFM)

"Phagosome Closure Assay" to Visualize Phagosome Formation in Three Dimensions Using Total Internal Reflection Fluorescent Microscopy (TIRFM)

Published on: August 26, 2016

Shaping cups into phagosomes and macropinosomes.

Joel A Swanson¹

¹Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-5620, USA. jswan@umich.edu

Nature Reviews. Molecular Cell Biology

|July 10, 2008

Summary

Cellular processes like phagocytosis and macropinocytosis involve membrane dynamics and actin cytoskeleton rearrangements to form endocytic compartments. A feedback mechanism regulates signal transduction during the formation of these cellular cups.

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Last Updated: Jun 20, 2026

"Phagosome Closure Assay" to Visualize Phagosome Formation in Three Dimensions Using Total Internal Reflection Fluorescent Microscopy (TIRFM)

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Area of Science:

Cell Biology
Molecular Biology
Biophysics

Background:

Phagocytosis and macropinocytosis are essential cellular processes for particle and fluid uptake, respectively.
These processes require coordinated membrane and actin cytoskeleton dynamics to form intracellular vacuoles.
While Fc-receptor-mediated phagocytosis is receptor-guided, macropinosomes and some phagosomes form with less receptor input.

Purpose of the Study:

To elucidate the common organizing structure and regulatory mechanisms of phagocytosis and macropinocytosis.
To investigate the role of physical properties of forming cellular cups in regulating endocytic pathways.
To understand the signal transduction feedback mechanisms governing these cellular processes.

Main Methods:

Analysis of membrane dynamics and actin cytoskeleton organization during endocytosis.
Focus on the physical properties of the plasma membrane invaginations (cups) that form phagosomes and macropinosomes.
Investigation of receptor-mediated and non-receptor-mediated endocytic pathways.

Main Results:

A common cup-shaped plasma membrane invagination is the fundamental structure for both phagosome and macropinosome formation.
Fc-receptor-mediated phagocytosis exhibits a zipper-like progression guided by particle geometry.
Macropinosomes and some phagosomes form with minimal receptor guidance, suggesting alternative mechanisms.
Recent findings highlight a feedback mechanism linked to the physical properties of forming cups that regulates signal transduction.

Conclusions:

The formation of phagosomes and macropinosomes relies on a conserved cellular structure: the membrane cup.
Signal transduction in phagocytosis and macropinocytosis is modulated by a feedback loop involving the physical characteristics of the forming endocytic cup.
Understanding these mechanisms provides insight into cellular uptake processes and potential therapeutic targets.