A baby hamster kidney (BHK) cell has a surface area of 3,400 micrometres². Assume that the endocyte clathrin-coated pits account for 2% of this area and that the surface area of a single coated pit is the same of that of a 100nm diameter clathrin coated vesicle that will be formed from it. If the cell surface has 100,000 transferrin receptors, around 70% are localised within coated pits, work out the following:
If a transferrin receptor has a cross-sectional area of 50 Angstroms X 100 angstroms (5x10nm), how many receptors could be accomodated in a 100nm clathrin-coated vesicle assuming that only 50% of the surface area can be occupied by proteins?
