The ESCRT (endosomal sorting complexes required for Transport) machinery consists of the five different protein complexes, ESCRT-0, ESCRT-I, ESCRT-II, ESCRT-III and the AAA ATPase Vps4 [1]. The ESCRTs direct multiple cellular membrane remodeling events, ranging from the biogenesis of multivesicular bodies and exosomes to the final membrane abscission stage of cytokinesis [2]. The ESCRTs are exploited by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and many other enveloped viruses to facilitate their escape from the cells [3]. All of these pathways converge in the scission of the narrow membrane neck that connects bud to parent membrane or daughter cell to daughter cell. Scission results from the polymerization of soluble ESCRT-III monomers or dimers into tightly membrane-bound filaments.
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