Does turgor prevent endocytosis in plant cells?

The energetics of coated vesicle‐mediated endocytosis in turgid plant cells are discussed in terms of the known ATP requirement for clathrin cage dissociation and on the basis of the elementary expression for the energy w = P · v, where P corresponds to the turgor and v to the vesicle volume. The authors' calculations indicate that the possibility for formation of coated vesicles by endocytosis is limited to a rather low turgor range (P below about 0.1 MPa). This view is consistent with reports of well‐developed clathrin coats on the plasma membranes in those cells having very low turgor such as root hairs and naked flagellates.