ESCRTs Are Everywhere

Overview

Journal EMBO J

Specialties Biotechnology
Molecular Biology

Date 2015 Aug 28

PMID 26311197

Citations 326

Authors

James H Hurley

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The ESCRT proteins are an ancient system that buds membranes and severs membrane necks from their inner face. Three "classical" functions of the ESCRTs have dominated research into these proteins since their discovery in 2001: the biogenesis of multivesicular bodies in endolysosomal sorting; the budding of HIV-1 and other viruses from the plasma membrane of infected cells; and the membrane abscission step in cytokinesis. The past few years have seen an explosion of novel functions: the biogenesis of microvesicles and exosomes; plasma membrane wound repair; neuron pruning; extraction of defective nuclear pore complexes; nuclear envelope reformation; plus-stranded RNA virus replication compartment formation; and micro- and macroautophagy. Most, and perhaps all, of the functions involve the conserved membrane-neck-directed activities of the ESCRTs, revealing a remarkably widespread role for this machinery through a broad swath of cell biology.

Citing Articles

The role and mechanism of CHMP4C in poor prognosis and drug sensitivity of lung adenocarcinoma.

Xu C, Liu M, Li Y, Peng X, Zhou W, Zhang W Discov Oncol. 2025; 16(1):270.

PMID: 40050481 PMC: 11885760. DOI: 10.1007/s12672-025-01986-6.

A review of the roles of exosomes in salivary gland diseases with an emphasis on primary Sjögren's syndrome.

Cui X, Liu L, Duan C, Mao S, Wang G, Li H J Dent Sci. 2025; 20(1):1-14.

PMID: 39873057 PMC: 11762945. DOI: 10.1016/j.jds.2024.10.001.

Extracellular vesicular microRNAs and cardiac hypertrophy.

Hu H, Wang X, Yu H, Wang Z Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2025; 15():1444940.

PMID: 39850481 PMC: 11753959. DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1444940.

Molecular Targeting of Ischemic Stroke: The Promise of Naïve and Engineered Extracellular Vesicles.

Lee J, Geum D, Park D, Kim J Pharmaceutics. 2025; 16(12.

PMID: 39771472 PMC: 11678501. DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics16121492.

The Asgard archaeal ESCRT-III system forms helical filaments and remodels eukaryotic-like membranes.

Melnikov N, Junglas B, Halbi G, Nachmias D, Zerbib E, Gueta N EMBO J. 2025; 44(3):665-681.

PMID: 39753954 PMC: 11791191. DOI: 10.1038/s44318-024-00346-4.

References

Andrews N, Almeida P, Corrotte M . Damage control: cellular mechanisms of plasma membrane repair. Trends Cell Biol. 2014; 24(12):734-42. PMC: 4252702. DOI: 10.1016/j.tcb.2014.07.008. View

Matusek T, Wendler F, Poles S, Pizette S, DAngelo G, Furthauer M . The ESCRT machinery regulates the secretion and long-range activity of Hedgehog. Nature. 2014; 516(7529):99-103. DOI: 10.1038/nature13847. View

Scheffer L, Sreetama S, Sharma N, Medikayala S, Brown K, Defour A . Mechanism of Ca²⁺-triggered ESCRT assembly and regulation of cell membrane repair. Nat Commun. 2014; 5:5646. PMC: 4333728. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6646. View

Loncle N, Agromayor M, Martin-Serrano J, Williams D . An ESCRT module is required for neuron pruning. Sci Rep. 2015; 5:8461. PMC: 4327575. DOI: 10.1038/srep08461. View

Diaz A, Zhang J, Ollwerther A, Wang X, Ahlquist P . Host ESCRT proteins are required for bromovirus RNA replication compartment assembly and function. PLoS Pathog. 2015; 11(3):e1004742. PMC: 4351987. DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004742. View

Spitzer C, Li F, Buono R, Roschzttardtz H, Chung T, Zhang M . The endosomal protein CHARGED MULTIVESICULAR BODY PROTEIN1 regulates the autophagic turnover of plastids in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell. 2015; 27(2):391-402. PMC: 4456926. DOI: 10.1105/tpc.114.135939. View

MacDonald C, Payne J, Aboian M, Smith W, Katzmann D, Piper R . A family of tetraspans organizes cargo for sorting into multivesicular bodies. Dev Cell. 2015; 33(3):328-42. PMC: 4421094. DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2015.03.007. View

Muller M, Schmidt O, Angelova M, Faserl K, Weys S, Kremser L . The coordinated action of the MVB pathway and autophagy ensures cell survival during starvation. Elife. 2015; 4:e07736. PMC: 4424281. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.07736. View

Spang A, Saw J, Jorgensen S, Zaremba-Niedzwiedzka K, Martijn J, Lind A . Complex archaea that bridge the gap between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Nature. 2015; 521(7551):173-179. PMC: 4444528. DOI: 10.1038/nature14447. View

10.

Yang B, Stjepanovic G, Shen Q, Martin A, Hurley J . Vps4 disassembles an ESCRT-III filament by global unfolding and processive translocation. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2015; 22(6):492-8. PMC: 4456219. DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.3015. View

11.

Vietri M, Schink K, Campsteijn C, Wegner C, Schultz S, Christ L . Spastin and ESCRT-III coordinate mitotic spindle disassembly and nuclear envelope sealing. Nature. 2015; 522(7555):231-5. DOI: 10.1038/nature14408. View

12.

Lindas A, Karlsson E, Lindgren M, Ettema T, Bernander R . A unique cell division machinery in the Archaea. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008; 105(48):18942-6. PMC: 2596248. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0809467105. View

13.

Samson R, Obita T, Freund S, Williams R, Bell S . A role for the ESCRT system in cell division in archaea. Science. 2008; 322(5908):1710-3. PMC: 4121953. DOI: 10.1126/science.1165322. View

14.

Connell J, Lindon C, Luzio J, Reid E . Spastin couples microtubule severing to membrane traffic in completion of cytokinesis and secretion. Traffic. 2008; 10(1):42-56. PMC: 2709849. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0854.2008.00847.x. View

15.

Im Y, Wollert T, Boura E, Hurley J . Structure and function of the ESCRT-II-III interface in multivesicular body biogenesis. Dev Cell. 2009; 17(2):234-43. PMC: 2749878. DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2009.07.008. View

16.

Samson R, Bell S . Ancient ESCRTs and the evolution of binary fission. Trends Microbiol. 2009; 17(11):507-13. DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2009.08.003. View

17.

Barajas D, Jiang Y, Nagy P . A unique role for the host ESCRT proteins in replication of Tomato bushy stunt virus. PLoS Pathog. 2009; 5(12):e1000705. PMC: 2791863. DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1000705. View

18.

Hurley J, Hanson P . Membrane budding and scission by the ESCRT machinery: it's all in the neck. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2010; 11(8):556-66. PMC: 2922035. DOI: 10.1038/nrm2937. View

19.

Hurley J . The ESCRT complexes. Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol. 2010; 45(6):463-87. PMC: 2988974. DOI: 10.3109/10409238.2010.502516. View

20.

Sahu R, Kaushik S, Clement C, Cannizzo E, Scharf B, Follenzi A . Microautophagy of cytosolic proteins by late endosomes. Dev Cell. 2011; 20(1):131-9. PMC: 3025279. DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2010.12.003. View