Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 11, 2026

The Microscopy-Based Assay to Study and Analyze the Recycling Endosomes using SNARE Trafficking
Published on: February 12, 2022
Emerging roles of recycling endosomes
1Laboratory of Pathological Cell Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
Abstract:
Cells internalize extracellular solutes, ligands and proteins and lipids in the plasma membrane (PM) by endocytosis. The removal of membrane from the PM is counteracted by endosomal recycling pathways that return the endocytosed proteins and lipids back to the PM. Recycling to the PM can occur from early endosomes. However, many cells have a distinct subpopulation of endosomes that have a mildly acidic pH of 6.5 and are involved in the endosomal recycling. These endosomes are dubbed recycling endosomes (REs). In recent years, studies have begun to reveal that function of REs is not limited to the endosomal recycling. In this review, I summarize the nature of membrane trafficking pathways that pass through REs and the cell biological roles of these pathways.
Related Concept Videos
Recycling Endosomes and Transcytosis
The recycling endosome is not a single organelle but an extensively tubulated network of recycling pathways. It functions in storing molecules or transporting them across...
The Early Endosome: Endocytosis of Transferrin
Maturation of Endosomes
Changes in location
The maturing endosome moves along microtubules from the periphery of the cell towards the perinuclear region. This movement of the...
Delivery Pathways to the Lysosome
Endocytosis
In endocytosis, the cell membrane takes up macromolecules and particles from the surrounding medium. Clathrin-mediated...
ER Retrieval Pathway
The ER uses many checkpoints to prevent the entry of incorrectly folded or a resident protein as cargo onto a transport vesicle. These mechanisms...
Intralumenal Vesicles and Multivesicular Bodies

