Searching across hundreds of databases

Our searching services are busy right now. Your search will reload in five seconds.

X
Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your email here and get a temporary password sent to your email.

X
Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your email here and get a temporary password sent to your email.

Spectraplakin Induces Positive Feedback between Fusogens and the Actin Cytoskeleton to Promote Cell-Cell Fusion.

Developmental cell | 2017

Cell-cell fusion generally requires cellular fusogenic proteins and actin-propelled membrane protrusions. However, the molecular connections between fusogens and the actin cytoskeleton remain unclear. Here, we show that the Caenorhabditis elegans fusogen EFF-1 and F-actin are enriched at the cortex of the post-embryonic fusing cells, and conditional mutations of WASP and Arp2/3 delay cell-cell fusion by impairing EFF-1 localization. Our affinity purification and mass spectrometry analyses determined that an actin-binding protein, spectraplakin/VAB-10A, binds to EFF-1. VAB-10A promotes cell-cell fusion by linking EFF-1 to the actin cytoskeleton. Conversely, EFF-1 enhanced the F-actin bundling activity of VAB-10A in vitro, and actin dynamics in the cortex were reduced in eff-1 or vab-10a mutants. Thus, cell-cell fusion is promoted by a positive feedback loop in which actin filaments that are crosslinked by spectraplakin to recruit fusogens to fusion sites are reinforced via fusogens, thereby increasing the probability of further fusogen accumulation to form fusion synapses.

Pubmed ID: 28399395 RIS Download

Publication data is provided by the National Library of Medicine ® and PubMed ®. Data is retrieved from PubMed ® on a weekly schedule. For terms and conditions see the National Library of Medicine Terms and Conditions.

This is a list of tools and resources that we have found mentioned in this publication.


New England Biolabs (tool)

RRID:SCR_013517

An Antibody supplier

View all literature mentions

Anti-GFP (antibody)

RRID:AB_390913

This monoclonal targets GFP

View all literature mentions

uManager (software resource)

RRID:SCR_000415

Software package for control of automated microscopes. Cross-platform desktop application, to control motorized microscopes, scientific cameras, stages, illuminators, and other microscope accessories.

View all literature mentions

ImageJ (software resource)

RRID:SCR_003070

Open source Java based image processing software program designed for scientific multidimensional images. ImageJ has been transformed to ImageJ2 application to improve data engine to be sufficient to analyze modern datasets.

View all literature mentions