cell cortex

GO:0005938 · Other · Subcellular region · Proposed

The region of a cell that lies just beneath the plasma membrane and often, but not always, contains a network of actin filaments and associated proteins. [GO:0005938]

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

Taxonomic distribution

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — COMMON: Budding yeast has a cell cortex beneath the plasma membrane where actin cortical patches assemble during endocytosis. [DOI:10.1016/S0092-8674(03)00883-3]

Canonical examples

NCBITaxon:4932 Saccharomyces cerevisiae — Budding-yeast model in which cortical endocytic actin patches assemble at the cell cortex during receptor internalization. [DOI:10.1016/S0092-8674(03)00883-3]

Functions

cortical cytoskeletal organization — The budding-yeast cell cortex localizes actin cortical patches during endocytic internalization and septin rings at the division plane.
- GO:0005938 GO:0005938 defines the cell cortex as the sub-plasma-membrane region that can contain actin filaments and associated proteins.
- DOI:10.1016/S0092-8674(03)00883-3 Kaksonen, Sun and Drubin 2003 followed yeast endocytic internalization at cortical actin-patch sites.
- DOI:10.3389/fcell.2016.00123 Glomb and Gronemeyer 2016 review septin-ring organization and cytokinesis functions at the budding-yeast cortex.

Mechanism graphs

Yeast cell cortex hosts actin patches and septin rings (FUNCTION)

The Saccharomyces cell cortex is the sub-plasma-membrane region where actin cortical patches assemble for endocytosis and the septin ring organizes at the division plane.

Subject	Predicate	Object	Evidence
cell cortex	lies beneath	plasma membrane	`GO:0005938` GO:0005938 defines the cell cortex as the region just beneath the plasma membrane.
actin cortical patch	assembles at	cell cortex	`DOI:10.1016/S0092-8674(03)00883-3` Kaksonen, Sun and Drubin 2003 followed actin recruitment at cortical endocytic sites. `DOI:10.1083/jcb.200404159` Young, Cooper and Bridgman 2004 examined branched actin filaments in yeast actin patches.
septin ring	assembles at	cell cortex	`GO:0005940` GO:0005940 defines the septin ring as a ring-shaped structure at the cell cortex in the division plane. `DOI:10.3389/fcell.2016.00123` Glomb and Gronemeyer 2016 review cortical septin-ring organization in budding yeast.
actin cortical patch	supports	endocytic internalization	`DOI:10.1016/S0092-8674(03)00883-3` Kaksonen, Sun and Drubin 2003 followed receptors, adaptors and actin during yeast endocytic internalization.

Discussions

INTERPRETATION (RESOLVED): Should actin, Arp2/3, or septin proteins be duplicated as direct cell cortex components? GO:0005938 denotes the sub-plasma-membrane region. Actin cortical patches and septin rings are cortex-localized substructures that already have their own structure records, so actin, Arp2/3, and septin constituents remain on those lower-level records instead of being duplicated as molecular components of the parent region.

Evidence

GO:0005938 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the cell cortex.
GO:0005737 — cytoplasm Gene Ontology cellular-component parent term for the cytoplasm.
GO:0005886 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the plasma membrane that bounds the cell cortex.
GO:0030479 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for actin cortical patches, which are part of the cell cortex.
GO:0005940 Gene Ontology cellular-component term for the septin ring, another cortex-localized cytoskeletal structure.
DOI:10.1016/S0092-8674(03)00883-3 Kaksonen, Sun and Drubin 2003, A Pathway for Association of Receptors, Adaptors, and Actin during Endocytic Internalization, Cell.
DOI:10.1083/jcb.200404159 Young, Cooper and Bridgman 2004, Yeast actin patches are networks of branched actin filaments, Journal of Cell Biology.
DOI:10.3389/fcell.2016.00123 Glomb and Gronemeyer 2016, Septin Organization and Functions in Budding Yeast, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology.

Curation history

2026-09-23T23:24:31Z codex · CREATED_RECORD — Scaffolded by scripts/new_record.py
2026-09-23T23:25:15Z codex · EXPANDED_RECORD — Added cytoplasm parentage, Saccharomyces scope, GO/DOI evidence, a nonmechanistic cortex-substructure topology graph, and a resolved boundary discussion for actin-patch and septin-ring components.
2026-09-23T23:26:19Z codex · NARROWED_TAXONOMIC_SCOPE — Narrowed the Saccharomyces taxonomic row to the cortical actin-patch claim directly supported by the Kaksonen et al. endocytosis evidence.

Source: data/structures/other/cell_cortex.yaml