phagocytic vesicle

GO:0045335 · Membrane organelle · Membrane bounded organelle · Proposed

A membrane-bounded intracellular vesicle that arises from the ingestion of particulate material by phagocytosis. [GO:0045335]

Synonyms: phagosome

Has part: phagocytic vesicle membrane (GO:0030670); phagocytic vesicle lumen (GO:0097013)

Xrefs: uniprot.location:SL-0206 — Phagosome

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
phagocytic vesicle lipid bilayer	Lipid	part of	Reviewed label only (reviewed name; no accession asserted)			ESSENTIAL	Lipid-bilayer material that forms the phagocytic vesicle membrane boundary around ingested particulate cargo. `GO:0030670` GO:0030670 identifies the phagocytic vesicle membrane surrounding a phagocytic vesicle. `uniprot.location:SL-0206` — Phagosome UniProt Subcellular Location SL-0206 identifies the phagosome as a phagocytic cell-specific membrane-bounded vesicle formed after uptake of extracellular material.

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:44689 Dictyostelium discoideum — COMMON: Dictyostelium discoideum forms phagosomes that undergo ordered maturation after particle uptake. [PMID:12388753]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:44689 Dictyostelium discoideum — Amoebozoan model in which purified latex-bead phagosomes were sampled across a maturation time course and profiled by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. [PMID:16926386]

Functions

phagocytosis GO:0006909 — Phagocytic vesicles enclose extracellular particles taken up by phagocytosis.
- GO:0006909 GO:0006909 defines phagocytosis as vesicle-mediated transport that engulfs external particulate material.
- GO:0045335 GO:0045335 defines phagocytic vesicles as membrane-bounded vesicles that arise from ingestion by phagocytosis.
phagosome maturation GO:0090382 — Newly formed phagocytic vesicles mature through ordered membrane-traffic and luminal changes toward late digestive compartments.
- GO:0090382 GO:0090382 defines phagosome maturation as cellular rearrangement of phagosome constituent parts after early phagosome formation.
- PMID:12388753 Gotthardt et al. 2002 dissected the maturation of Dictyostelium phagosomes into stages with distinct membrane-trafficking and luminal-acidification behavior.
- PMID:16926386 Gotthardt et al. 2006 used two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry to fingerprint Dictyostelium phagosome protein dynamics across maturation.

Mechanism graphs

Phagocytic vesicle topology and maturation (FUNCTION)

A phagocytic vesicle forms when phagocytosis encloses external particulate material inside a membrane-bounded compartment whose membrane and lumen are remodeled during maturation.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
phagocytic vesicle membrane	is part of	phagocytic vesicle	`GO:0030670` GO:0030670 identifies the phagocytic vesicle membrane as the lipid bilayer surrounding a phagocytic vesicle.
phagocytic vesicle lumen	is part of	phagocytic vesicle	`GO:0097013` GO:0097013 defines the phagocytic vesicle lumen as the volume enclosed by a phagocytic vesicle membrane.
phagocytic vesicle membrane	bounds	phagocytic vesicle lumen	`GO:0030670` GO:0030670 identifies the phagocytic vesicle membrane. `GO:0097013` GO:0097013 defines the phagocytic vesicle lumen by enclosure within a phagocytic vesicle membrane.
phagocytosis	forms	phagocytic vesicle	`GO:0045335` GO:0045335 defines phagocytic vesicles as arising from ingestion of particulate material by phagocytosis. `GO:0006909` GO:0006909 defines phagocytosis as vesicle-mediated engulfment of external particulate material.
phagocytic vesicle	undergoes	phagosome maturation	`PMID:12388753` Gotthardt et al. 2002 separated Dictyostelium phagosome maturation into temporally distinct membrane-trafficking phases. `PMID:16926386` Gotthardt et al. 2006 measured dynamic protein changes in purified Dictyostelium phagosomes during maturation.
early phagosome	is a	phagocytic vesicle	`GO:0032009` GO:0032009 defines the early phagosome as the phagocytic vesicle initially formed after particle ingestion.
phagolysosome	is a	phagocytic vesicle	`GO:0032010` GO:0032010 defines the phagolysosome as a vesicle formed by maturation of an early phagosome after phagocytosis.
early phagosome	matures into	phagolysosome	`GO:0090382` GO:0090382 defines phagosome maturation as beginning with early-phagosome formation and ending with phagolysosome formation. `GO:0032010` GO:0032010 identifies the phagolysosome as the product of early phagosome maturation.

Discussions

INTERPRETATION (RESOLVED): Keep transient phagosome-maturation proteins out of the generic phagocytic vesicle components. The generic phagocytic vesicle is defined by a membrane-bounded vesicle made by phagocytosis. Rab GTPases, V-ATPases, proteases, and actin-associated factors associate with phagosomes in maturation-stage-specific ways, so the first record models only the stable membrane boundary as a constituent and leaves exact trafficking machinery to narrower timing- or organism-specific curation.

Evidence

GO:0045335 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the phagocytic vesicle.
GO:0031410 Gene Ontology cellular-component parent term for cytoplasmic vesicles.
GO:0030670 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the phagocytic vesicle membrane.
GO:0097013 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the phagocytic vesicle lumen.
GO:0032009 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the early phagosome.
GO:0032010 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the phagolysosome.
GO:0006909 Gene Ontology biological-process term for phagocytosis.
GO:0090382 Gene Ontology biological-process term for phagosome maturation.
uniprot.location:SL-0206 — Phagosome UniProt Subcellular Location entry SL-0206 maps Phagosome to GO:0045335.
PMID:12388753 Gotthardt et al. 2002, High-resolution dissection of phagosome maturation reveals distinct membrane trafficking phases, Molecular Biology of the Cell.
PMID:16926386 Gotthardt et al. 2006, Proteomics fingerprinting of phagosome maturation and evidence for the role of a Galpha during uptake, Molecular & Cellular Proteomics.

Curation history

2026-09-22T15:45:06Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-22T15:45:52Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added cytoplasmic-vesicle parentage, phagocytic-vesicle membrane and lumen parts, phagosome synonymy and UniProt SL-0206 xref, a GO-grounded membrane component, Dictyostelium discoideum scope, phagocytosis and phagosome-maturation functions, GO/UniProt/PMID evidence, a nonmechanistic topology and maturation graph, and a resolved transient-maturation-factor boundary discussion.
2026-09-22T15:56:19Z codex · ADDRESS_REVIEW — Resolved #1297 by narrowing the Dictyostelium canonical example to the proteomics method supported by PMID:16926386 and resolved #1298 by adding GO-grounded early-phagosome and phagolysosome states to the maturation graph.
2026-09-23T18:55:49Z codex · ADD_PHAGOCYTIC_VESICLE_MEMBRANE_CHILD — Linked GO:0030670 to its own phagocytic vesicle membrane child record while leaving phagocytic vesicle topology and maturation relationships on the parent.
2026-09-23T19:06:30Z codex · ADDRESS_REVIEW — Resolved PR #1418 review issue #1419 by renaming the parent phagocytic vesicle lipid component, marking it reviewed-label-only, and leaving GO:0030670 as the exact child membrane structure.
2026-09-23T19:32:06Z codex · ADD_PHAGOCYTIC_VESICLE_LUMEN_CHILD — Linked GO:0097013 to its own phagocytic vesicle lumen child record while preserving the phagocytic vesicle topology graph on the parent.

Source: data/structures/membrane_organelle/phagocytic_vesicle.yaml