Membrane Fusion Revealed at Single-Event Resolution,
Researchers in Professor Taekjip Ha's group have developed a novel method to visualize the fusion of biological membranes at the single-event resolution. Observing the individual fusion events revealed in unprecedented detail a picture of membrane fusion, which is involved in biological events ranging from the invasion by the body of a virus to the fertilization of an egg cell.
“Undoubtedly, understanding the mechanisms of this basic life phenomenon is of great biological interest, and there have been extensive studies at the theoretical and experimental level to this end,” stated Ha, a professor of physics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “Previous studies suggested various physical intermediates for the membrane fusion, but the limitations of the approaches at hand did not allow a solid consensus to be reached.” Read more...