Mitosis and endocytosis are two fundamental cellular processes essential for maintaining a eukaryotic life. Mitosis partitions duplicated chromatin enveloped in the nuclear membrane into two new cells, whereas endocytosis takes in extracellular substances through membrane invagination. These two processes are spatiotemporally separated and seemingly unrelated. However, recent studies have uncovered that endocytic proteins have moonlighting functions in mitosis, and mitotic complexes manifest additional roles in endocytosis. In this review, we summarize important proteins or protein complexes that participate in both processes, compare their mechanism of action, and discuss the rationale behind this multifunctionality. We also speculate on the possible origin of the functional reciprocity from an evolutionary perspective. An introduction to mitosis and endocytic pathwaysEukaryotic cells rely on endocytosis to uptake extracellular materials and their own plasma membrane components, in order to maintain homeostasis and respond to the varying environment [1-3]; they use the process of mitosis to achieve self-duplication and cell fate specification when differentiating [1,4]. These two Abbreviations AP2, adaptor protein-2; APC/C, anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome; CCP, clathrin-coated pit; CCV, clathrin-coated vesicle; CHC, clathrin heavy chains; ch-TOG, colonic and hepatic tumor overexpressed gene; CLC, clathrin light chain; CME, clathrin-mediated endocytosis; CPC, chromosome passenger complex;

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