The answer is yes. How do they do that? The recycling process in plants is called endocytosis and is based on the movement of molecules into the cell. Now, thanks to a team of scientists led by the VIB institute (The Flanders Institute for Biotechnology), the University of Ghent (Belgium), and the Max Planck Institute (Germany), a new complex of adapter proteins has been identified , essential in this process and found only in plants. The results of the study have been published in the journal Cell .
The new complex, called TPLATE, is part of a small number of adapter proteins that confirms a great discovery in evolutionary terms, since research focused on the endocytosis of plants, animals and yeasts has been carried out for decades and this is the first time in history a protein complex is discovered that exists exclusively in plants .
The complex is made up of the TPLATE protein and seven other proteins not described so far. This protein complex has turned out to be essential for plant endocytosis since it is the first to reach the zone of the membrane where endocytosis must begin, since the cell has to constantly adjust the lipid and protein composition of its membrane; and, for this, old proteins are eliminated or recycled by incorporating new proteins in the process.
