endosome membrane

GO:0010008 · Membrane organelle · Membrane · Proposed

The lipid bilayer surrounding an endosome. [GO:0010008]

Part of: endosome (GO:0005768)

UniProt location names: UniProt Consortium, CC BY 4.0. Reference label and route sources.

Components

Component	Type	Part of / acts on	Grounding	Genes	Stoichiometry	Essential	Role
endosome membrane lipid bilayer	Lipid	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)			ESSENTIAL	Lipid-bilayer constituent that forms the endosomal boundary for cargo sorting and multivesicular-body intraluminal-vesicle formation. `GO:0010008` GO:0010008 defines the endosome membrane as the lipid bilayer surrounding an endosome. `DOI:10.1083/jcb.200302136` Katzmann et al. 2003 localized yeast Vps27 and ESCRT-I recruitment to endosomal membranes during multivesicular-body cargo sorting.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — COMMON: Budding yeast uses endosomal membranes as ESCRT recruitment sites for multivesicular-body sorting of ubiquitinated membrane cargo. [DOI:10.1083/jcb.200302136]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — Genetic model in which Vps27 recruits ESCRT-I to endosomal membranes during MVB cargo sorting. [DOI:10.1083/jcb.200302136]

Functions

endosomal membrane cargo sorting — The endosome membrane provides the sorting surface where ubiquitinated transmembrane cargo and ESCRT machinery are brought together for delivery into intraluminal vesicles.
- PMID:11511343 Katzmann, Babst and Emr 2001 identified ESCRT-I as a conserved yeast endosomal protein-sorting complex needed for ubiquitin-dependent MVB cargo sorting.
- DOI:10.1083/jcb.200302136 Katzmann et al. 2003 found that Vps27 recruits ESCRT-I to endosomal membranes during MVB sorting.
multivesicular body sorting pathway GO:0071985 — The endosome membrane buds inward during ESCRT-dependent sorting to package endosomal membrane cargo into intraluminal vesicles.
- GO:0005771 GO:0005771 defines multivesicular bodies as endosomes containing internal vesicles formed by invagination of the limiting endosomal membrane.
- DOI:10.1016/j.devcel.2011.05.015 Henne, Buchkovich and Emr 2011 reviewed ESCRT-driven intraluminal vesicle formation at endosomes.

Mechanism graphs

Endosome membrane MVB sorting (FUNCTION)

The endosome membrane is the lipid boundary and ESCRT-sorting surface that encloses endosome lumen and generates multivesicular-body intraluminal vesicles.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
endosome membrane	is part of	endosome	`GO:0010008` GO:0010008 defines the endosome membrane as the lipid bilayer surrounding an endosome.
endosome membrane	bounds	endosome lumen	`GO:0031904` GO:0031904 defines the endosome lumen as the volume enclosed by the membrane of an endosome.
Vps27 endosomal ESCRT-I recruiter	recruits	ESCRT I complex	`DOI:10.1083/jcb.200302136` Katzmann et al. 2003 found that yeast Vps27 recruits ESCRT-I to endosomal membranes.
ESCRT I complex	sorts	ubiquitinated membrane cargo	`PMID:11511343` Katzmann, Babst and Emr 2001 showed ESCRT-I is needed for ubiquitin-dependent MVB cargo sorting.
ESCRT III complex	remodels	endosome membrane	`PMID:12194857` Babst et al. 2002 characterized yeast ESCRT-III as an endosome-associated complex required for MVB sorting. `DOI:10.1016/j.devcel.2011.05.015` Henne, Buchkovich and Emr 2011 reviewed ESCRT-III as the membrane-remodeling complex in the endosomal ESCRT pathway.
endosome membrane	forms	multivesicular body intraluminal vesicle	`GO:0005771` GO:0005771 defines multivesicular bodies as endosomes with internal vesicles formed by invagination of the limiting endosomal membrane.
multivesicular body intraluminal vesicle	is contained in	multivesicular body	`GO:0005771` GO:0005771 defines multivesicular bodies by internal vesicles produced from the limiting endosomal membrane.

Discussions

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve an exact source-neutral grounding for the lipid constituent of the endosome membrane. The record is exactly grounded to GO:0010008, but the endosome membrane lipid-bilayer constituent is intentionally left as reviewed-label-only until an exact source-neutral lipid or membrane-constituent CURIE is curated.

Evidence

GO:0010008 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the endosome membrane.
GO:0016020 Gene Ontology cellular-component parent term for membrane.
GO:0005768 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for endosome.
GO:0031904 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the endosome lumen.
GO:0005771 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the multivesicular body.
GO:0071985 Gene Ontology biological-process term for the multivesicular body sorting pathway.
PMID:11511343 Katzmann, Babst and Emr 2001, Ubiquitin-Dependent Sorting into the Multivesicular Body Pathway Requires the Function of a Conserved Endosomal Protein Sorting Complex, ESCRT-I, Cell.
DOI:10.1083/jcb.200302136 Katzmann, Stefan, Babst and Emr 2003, Vps27 recruits ESCRT machinery to endosomes during MVB sorting, Journal of Cell Biology.
DOI:10.1016/j.devcel.2011.05.015 Henne, Buchkovich and Emr 2011, The ESCRT Pathway, Developmental Cell.
PMID:12194857 Babst et al. 2002, ESCRT-III, Developmental Cell.

Curation history

2026-09-15T19:34:30Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-15T19:35:23Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added generic membrane parentage, endosome parthood, a reviewed-label-only lipid-bilayer component, budding-yeast scope, GO/DOI evidence, endosomal cargo-sorting functions, a nonmechanistic endosome membrane topology graph, and a lipid-grounding TODO.
2026-09-15T19:41:07Z codex · FIXED_FUNCTION_GROUNDING — Aligned the GO:0071985-grounded function with its multivesicular body sorting pathway label instead of using the narrower ungrounded intraluminal vesicle formation wording.
2026-09-15T19:52:57Z codex · ADDRESS_REVIEW — Resolved #1019 by adding ESCRT-III membrane remodeling to the MVB sorting graph and resolved #1020 by narrowing the yeast canonical example to the Vps27/ESCRT-I recruitment claim directly supported by Katzmann et al. 2003.
2026-09-21T08:41:49Z codex · REPLACED_UNREADABLE_EVIDENCE — Resolved #1224 by routing Katzmann, Babst and Emr 2001 ESCRT-I evidence through reachable PMID:11511343 instead of the unreadable Cell DOI.
2026-09-21T09:03:20Z codex · REPLACED_UNREADABLE_EVIDENCE — Resolved #1225 by routing Babst et al. 2002 ESCRT-III evidence through reachable PMID:12194857 instead of the unreadable Developmental Cell DOI.
2026-09-23T08:14:39Z codex · LINKED_INTRALUMINAL_VESICLE_RECORD — Grounded the multivesicular-body intraluminal vesicle graph node to cellstructuremech:multivesicular_body_intraluminal_vesicle.

Source: data/structures/membrane_organelle/endosome_membrane.yaml