Caveolin Overview

Caveolins are a family of proteins that are involved in receptor independent endocytosis. The caveolin gene family has three members in vertebrates: CAV1, CAV2, and CAV3, coding for the proteins caveolin-1, caveolin-2 and caveolin-3, respectively. All three members are membrane proteins with similar structure. Caveolin forms oligomers and associates with cholesterol and sphingolipids in certain areas of the cell membrane, leading to the formation of caveolae. The caveolins are similar...