Sorting out PtdIns(4,5)P2 and clathrin-coated vesicles in plants

Phosphoinositides and their binding proteins are regulators of many aspects of the vesicle-trafficking processes that underlie cellular physiology in animal cells. Relatively little is known, by comparison, of the contribution of phosphoinositides to membrane-trafficking phenomena in plants. A study in this issue of the Biochemical Journal by K?nig et al. reports for the first time in this kingdom the association of PtdIns(4,5)P(2) with an endomembrane fraction enriched for clathrin. This work is discussed in the context of current evidence for constitutive and evoked endocytosis of membrane protein cargoes in plants.