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Membrane fusion

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 15, pages 658–664 (2008)Cite this article

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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Figure 1: Membrane fusion on the exocytic and endocytic pathways, in five steps.
Figure 2: Mitochondrial fusion and cell fusion in mating yeast cells.

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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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  1. Department of Biochemistry, Dartmouth Medical School, 7200 Vail Building, Hanover, 03755-3844, New Hampshire, USA

    William Wickner

  2. Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, 626 Barker Hall, Berkeley, 94720-3202, California, USA

    Randy Schekman

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Correspondence to William Wickner or Randy Schekman.

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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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