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dictyNews Volume 39 Number 05
dictyNews
Electronic Edition
Volume 39, number 5
February 22, 2013
Please submit abstracts of your papers as soon as they have been
accepted for publication by sending them to dicty@northwestern.edu
or by using the form at
http://dictybase.org/db/cgi-bin/dictyBase/abstract_submit.
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Abstracts
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Membrane and actin reorganization
in electropulse-induced cell fusion
Gnther Gerisch1*, Mary Ecke1, Ralph Neujahr1,2, Jana Prassler1,
Andreas Stengl1, MaxHoffmann3, Ulrich S. Schwarz3, and
Eberhard Neumann4.
1Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, 82152 Martinsried, Germany;
2Present address: CarlZeiss Microscopy GmbH, 81371 Mnchen, Germany,
3 Heidelberg University, Bioquant andInstitute for Theoretical Physics, 69120
Heidelberg, Germany, and
4University of Bielefeld, Biophysical Chemistry, 33501 Bielefeld, Germany
Corresponding author: gerisch@biochem.mpg.de
J. Cell Science, in press
When cells of Dictyostelium discoideum are exposed to electric pulses they
are induced to fuse, yielding motile polykaryotic cells. By combining electron
microscopy and direct recording of fluorescent cells, we have studied the
emergence of fusion pores in the membranes and the localization of actin to
the cell cortex. In response to electric pulsing, the plasma membranes of two
contiguous cells are turned into tangles of highly bent and interdigitated
membranes. Live imaging of cells double-labeled for membranes and
filamentous actin revealed that actin is induced to polymerize in the fusion
zone to temporally bridge the gaps in the vesiculating membrane. The diffusion
of green fluorescent protein (GFP) from one fusion partner to the other was
scored using spinning disc confocal microscopy. Fusion pores that allowed
intercellular exchange of GFP were formed after a delay, which may last up
to 24 seconds after exposure of the cells to the electric field. These data
indicate that the membranes persist in a fusogenic state before pores of
about 3 nm diameter are formed.
Submitted by Gnther Gerisch [gerisch@biochem.mpg.de]
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[End dictyNews, volume 39, number 5]
