Vesicle internalization proceeds via a morphological phase transition

Vesicle internalization proceeds through a series of multivesicular topologies essential for endocytic transport and cellular compartmentalization. The energetic landscapes of related transitions, including vesicle budding and pearling, are known to be governed by the coupling of spontaneous curvature, leaflet area asymmetry, and reduced volume. However, the physical principles driving the structural transformation of hemifused intermediates remain unresolved. Using a continuum elastic model, we identify a morphological phase transition in hemifused invaginating vesicles, from an initial "eye" (lens-like) geometry to an elongated "kettle" geometry. This transition is discontinuous as long as the invaginating vesicle's reduced volume is below a critical threshold, but continuous otherwise. The kettle-like morphology is metastable across a broad range of leaflet area asymmetries, potentially enabling a hysteretic externalization pathway. Increasing either the spontaneous curvature of the shared outer leaflet or the size of the invaginating vesicle, alone or in tandem with the host vesicle, turns the kettle morphology into the global free energy minimum. Notably, simply scaling up the size of both vesicles does not eliminate the free energy barrier. This quantitative characterization provides a structural reference for identifying internalization intermediates witnessed in experimental imaging, and maps the morphological evolution of the internalization pathway across its physical parameter space.