early endosome membrane

GO:0031901 · Membrane organelle · Membrane · Proposed

The lipid bilayer surrounding an early endosome. [GO:0031901]

Synonyms: early endosomal membrane

Part of: early endosome (GO:0005769)

Xrefs: uniprot.location:SL-0093 — Early endosome membrane

Components

Component	Type	Part of / acts on	Grounding	Genes	Stoichiometry	Essential	Role
early endosome membrane lipid bilayer	Lipid	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)			ESSENTIAL	Lipid-bilayer constituent that forms the boundary of an early endosome and separates its lumen from the cytosol. `GO:0031901` GO:0031901 defines the early endosome membrane as the lipid bilayer surrounding an early endosome. `GO:0031905` GO:0031905 defines the early endosome lumen by enclosure within the membrane of an early endosome.

NCBITaxon:5693 Trypanosoma cruzi — VARIABLE: Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes carry membrane-bounded early endosomal compartments between cytostome entry and reservosome storage. [DOI:10.1078/0171-9335-00112]

NCBITaxon:5693 Trypanosoma cruzi — Kinetoplastid parasite whose epimastigote endocytic cargo passes through a membrane-bounded early endosomal network. [DOI:10.1078/0171-9335-00112]

early endosome membrane compartmentalization — The early endosome membrane compartmentalizes the early endosome lumen as the bilayer boundary of the early endocytic sorting compartment.
- GO:0031901 GO:0031901 defines the early endosome membrane as the lipid bilayer surrounding an early endosome.
- GO:0031905 GO:0031905 defines the early endosome lumen as the volume enclosed by the membrane of an early endosome.

The early endosome membrane is a specialized endosome membrane that forms part of the early endosome and bounds its lumen.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
early endosome membrane	is a	endosome membrane	`GO:0031901` GO:0031901 identifies the early endosome membrane as an endosome-membrane child. `GO:0010008` GO:0010008 defines the broader endosome membrane class.
early endosome membrane	is part of	early endosome	`GO:0031901` GO:0031901 defines the early endosome membrane as surrounding an early endosome.
early endosome membrane	bounds	early endosome lumen	`GO:0031901` GO:0031901 identifies the early endosome membrane. `GO:0031905` GO:0031905 defines the early endosome lumen by enclosure within the membrane of an early endosome.

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve exact lipid species or lipid classes for the early endosome membrane before expanding molecular composition. The GO term exactly identifies the complete early endosome membrane as a lipid bilayer, but this first membrane record does not curate the source-neutral lipid classes or organism-specific species that make up the bilayer.

GO:0031901 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the early endosome membrane.
GO:0010008 Gene Ontology cellular-component parent term for the endosome membrane.
GO:0005769 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the early endosome.
GO:0031905 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the early endosome lumen.
uniprot.location:SL-0093 — Early endosome membrane UniProt Subcellular Location entry SL-0093 maps Early endosome membrane to GO:0031901.
DOI:10.1078/0171-9335-00112 Porto-Carreiro et al. 2000, Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigote endocytic pathway: cargo enters the cytostome and passes through an early endosomal network before storage in reservosomes, European Journal of Cell Biology.

2026-09-22T16:48:26Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-22T16:49:13Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added endosome-membrane parentage, early-endosome parthood, an early endosomal membrane synonym, UniProt SL-0093 xref, a reviewed lipid-bilayer component, Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigote scope, a lumen-boundary function, GO/UniProt/DOI evidence, a nonmechanistic membrane-topology graph, and a lipid-species curation TODO.
2026-09-22T16:59:58Z codex · ADDRESSED_PR_REVIEW — Addressed PR #1302 review issues #1303 and #1304 by making the T. cruzi canonical example membrane-specific and renaming the function around early-endosome membrane compartmentalization.