Mohler William A, Shemer Gidi, del Campo Jacob J, Valansi Clari, Opoku-Serebuoh Eugene, Scranton Victoria, Assaf Nirit, White John G, Podbilewicz Benjamin
Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030, USA.
Dev Cell. 2002 Mar;2(3):355-62. doi: 10.1016/s1534-5807(02)00129-6.
Multinucleate cells are widespread in nature, yet the mechanism by which cells fuse their plasma membranes is poorly understood. To identify animal fusogens, we performed new screens for mutations that abolish cell fusion within tissues of C. elegans throughout development. We identified the gene eff-1, which is expressed as cells acquire fusion competence and encodes a novel integral membrane protein. EFF-1 sequence motifs suggest physicochemical actions that could cause adjacent bilayers to fuse. Mutations in the extracellular domain of EFF-1 completely block epithelial cell membrane fusion without affecting other perfusion events such as cell generation, patterning, differentiation, and adhesion. Thus, EFF-1 is a key component in the mechanism of cell fusion, a process essential to normal animal development.
多核细胞在自然界广泛存在，但细胞融合其质膜的机制却鲜为人知。为了鉴定动物融合蛋白，我们针对秀丽隐杆线虫整个发育过程中组织内细胞融合缺失的突变进行了新的筛选。我们鉴定出了eff-1基因，该基因在细胞获得融合能力时表达，并编码一种新型的整合膜蛋白。EFF-1的序列基序表明其可能具有导致相邻双层膜融合的物理化学作用。EFF-1胞外域的突变完全阻断上皮细胞膜融合，而不影响其他灌注事件，如细胞生成、模式形成、分化和黏附。因此，EFF-1是细胞融合机制的关键组成部分，而细胞融合是正常动物发育所必需的过程。
