Abstract
Subcellular compartmentalization, cell growth, hormone secretion and neurotransmission require rapid, targeted, and regulated membrane fusion. Fusion entails extensive lipid rearrangements by two apposed (docked) membrane vesicles, joining their membrane proteins and lipids and mixing their luminal contents without lysis. Fusion of membranes in the secretory pathway involves Rab GTPases; their bound 'effector' proteins, which mediate downstream steps; SNARE proteins, which can 'snare' each other, in cis (bound to one membrane) or in trans (anchored to apposed membranes); and SNARE-associated proteins (SM proteins; NSF or Sec18p; SNAP or Sec17p; and others) cooperating with specific lipids to catalyze fusion. In contrast, mitochondrial and cell-cell fusion events are regulated by and use distinct catalysts.
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Acknowledgements
We thank J. Shaw, A. Engel and P. Walter for discussions. Work in the authors' laboratories was supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health and funds from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (R.S.).
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Wickner, W., Schekman, R. Membrane fusion. Nat Struct Mol Biol 15, 658–664 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.1451
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.1451
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