Vesicle budding from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) has been reconstituted with washed membranes and three soluble proteins: Sec13 complex, Sec23 complex and the small GTPase Sar1p. The proteins that drive this cell-free vesicle budding reaction form an ∼10 nm thick electron dense coat on ER-derived vesicles. Although the overall mechanism of membrane budding driven by various cytoplasmic coats appears similar, the constituents of this new membrane coat are molecularly distinct from the non-clathrin coat (COP) involved in intra-Golgi transport and the clathrin-containing coats. The new vesicle coat has been termed COPII.
