RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Induced Membrane Curvature Bypasses Clathrin’s Essential Endocytic Function JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2021.07.15.452420 DO 10.1101/2021.07.15.452420 A1 Robert C Cail A1 Cyna R Shirazinejad A1 David G Drubin YR 2021 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/07/15/2021.07.15.452420.abstract AB During clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME), flat plasma membrane is rapidly remodeled to produce a nanometer-scale spherical vesicle. The mechanisms underlying this shape change are not known, but it has been hypothesized that the clathrin coat stabilizes membrane curvature. Here, we used nanopatterning to produce glass-like substrates with U-shaped features mimicking membrane shapes induced by fibrillar materials such as collagen. These substrates bend the ventral plasma membranes of cells grown on them into shapes characteristic of the energetically-unfavorable U-shaped intermediate stage of CME. This induced plasma membrane curvature recruits the endocytic machinery, enhances endocytic site maturation, and partially bypasses clathrin’s role in CME, supporting the conclusion that clathrin’s essential endocytic function is to stabilize membrane curvature.One-Sentence Summary The physical cue of nanometer-scale curvature creates endocytic vesicles in human cells, even without the protein clathrin.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.