Endosomal protein complex required for transport-III (ESCRT-III) polymers are involved in many crucial cellular functions, from cell division to endosome–lysosome dynamics. As a eukaryotic membrane remodeling machinery, ESCRT-III is unique in its ability to catalyze fission of membrane necks from their luminal side and to participate in membrane remodeling processes of essentially all cellular organelles. Found in Archaea, it is also the most evolutionary ancient membrane remodeling machinery. The simple protein structure shared by all of its subunits assembles into a large variety of filament shapes, limiting our understanding of how these filaments achieve membrane remodeling. Here, we review recent findings that discovered unpredicted properties of ESCRT-III polymers, which enable us to define general principles of the mechanism by which ESCRT-III filaments remodel membranes.

转运-III (ESCRT-III) 聚合物所需的内体蛋白复合物涉及许多关键的细胞功能，从细胞分裂到内体-溶酶体动力学。作为一种真核细胞膜重塑机器，ESCRT-III 的独特之处在于其能够催化膜颈从腔侧裂变并参与几乎所有细胞器的膜重塑过程。在古细菌中发现，它也是进化最多的古代膜重塑机械。其所有亚基共享的简单蛋白质结构组装成各种各样的细丝形状，限制了我们对这些细丝如何实现膜重塑的理解。在这里，我们回顾了最近的发现，这些发现发现了 ESCRT-III 聚合物的不可预测的特性，