Assembly units of clathrin coats

Abstract
Clathrin, a polypeptide of MW 180,000, is the main constituent of the polygonal network that forms the coat of coated pits and vesicles; these vesicles play a part in intracellular transport between membranous organelles. Purified [calf brain] clathrin coats dissociate reversibly into triskelions, structures composed of 3 usually bent, flexible legs radiating from a center. The MW of these triskelions was determined and they contain trimers of clathrin together with about 3 light MW polypeptide chains.