multivesicular body membrane

GO:0032585 · Membrane organelle · Membrane · Proposed

The lipid bilayer surrounding a multivesicular body. [GO:0032585]

Synonyms: Corpuscula multivesicularis membrane; ECV membrane; Endosomal carrier vesicle membrane; Multivesicular bodies membrane; MVB membrane

Part of: multivesicular body (GO:0005771)

Xrefs: uniprot.location:SL-0175 — Multivesicular body membrane

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
multivesicular body membrane lipid bilayer	Lipid	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)			ESSENTIAL	Lipid-bilayer constituent that forms the multivesicular-body limiting membrane remodeled into intraluminal vesicles. `GO:0032585` GO:0032585 identifies the membrane surrounding a multivesicular body. `uniprot.location:SL-0175` — Multivesicular body membrane UniProt Subcellular Location SL-0175 maps to GO:0032585 and denotes the multivesicular body membrane.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — COMMON: Budding yeast forms multivesicular-body membranes that invaginate during ESCRT-dependent sorting of ubiquitinated membrane cargo into intraluminal vesicles. [PMID:11511343]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — Genetic model for ESCRT-dependent sorting of ubiquitinated cargo at endosomal membranes into the MVB pathway. [PMID:11511343]

Functions

multivesicular body sorting pathway GO:0071985 — The multivesicular body membrane buds inward during ESCRT-dependent sorting to package endosomal membrane cargo into intraluminal vesicles.
- GO:0071985 GO:0071985 denotes the multivesicular body sorting pathway that targets ubiquitylated transmembrane proteins into luminal vesicles.
- PMID:11511343 Katzmann, Babst and Emr 2001 identified ESCRT-I as a conserved yeast endosomal protein-sorting complex needed for MVB cargo sorting.

Mechanism graphs

Multivesicular body membrane topology (ASSEMBLY)

The multivesicular body membrane is the endosome-derived lipid boundary that invaginates to form intraluminal vesicles during ESCRT-dependent MVB sorting.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
multivesicular body membrane	is a	endosome membrane	`GO:0032585` GO:0032585 identifies the multivesicular body membrane. `uniprot.location:SL-0175` — Multivesicular body membrane UniProt SL-0175 places the multivesicular body membrane under endosome membrane.
multivesicular body membrane	is part of	multivesicular body	`GO:0032585` GO:0032585 denotes the membrane surrounding a multivesicular body. `uniprot.location:SL-0175` — Multivesicular body membrane UniProt SL-0175 names the multivesicular body as the parent compartment of this membrane.
ESCRT III complex	remodels	multivesicular body 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.
multivesicular body membrane	buds inward to form	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 the multivesicular body by the presence of internal vesicles.

Discussions

CURATION_TODO (OPEN): Resolve an exact source-neutral grounding for the lipid constituent of the multivesicular body membrane. The record is exactly grounded to GO:0032585 and UniProt SL-0175, but the multivesicular body 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:0032585 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the multivesicular body membrane.
GO:0010008 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the broader endosome membrane class.
GO:0005771 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the multivesicular body.
GO:0071985 Gene Ontology biological-process term for the multivesicular body sorting pathway.
uniprot.location:SL-0175 — Multivesicular body membrane UniProt Subcellular Location entry SL-0175 maps to GO:0032585, places the membrane under the endosome membrane, and names multivesicular body as the parent compartment.
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.
PMID:12194857 Babst, Katzmann, Estepa-Sabal, Meerloo and Emr 2002, Escrt-III, Developmental Cell.
DOI:10.1016/j.devcel.2011.05.015 Henne, Buchkovich and Emr 2011, The ESCRT Pathway, Developmental Cell.

Curation history

2026-09-15T02:40:15Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-15T02:41:17Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added endosome-membrane parentage, multivesicular-body parthood, UniProt SL-0175 synonymy, a reviewed-label-only lipid-bilayer component, budding-yeast scope, GO/UniProt/DOI evidence, an MVB sorting function, a nonmechanistic MVB membrane topology graph, and a lipid-grounding TODO.
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.
2026-09-23T08:14:15Z codex · LINKED_INTRALUMINAL_VESICLE_RECORD — Grounded the multivesicular-body intraluminal vesicle graph node to cellstructuremech:multivesicular_body_intraluminal_vesicle.

Source: data/structures/membrane_organelle/multivesicular_body_membrane.yaml