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  • The EMBO Journal (2002) 21, 1241 - 1247
  • doi:10.1093/emboj/21.6.1241

Yeast vacuoles and membrane fusion pathways

William Wickner1

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Dartmouth Medical School, 7200 Vail Building, Hanover, NH 03755-3844, USA http://www.dartmouth.edu/~wickner/

Received 31 October 2001; Accepted 22 January 2002; Revised 16 January 2002

Selective membrane fusion underlies subcellular compartmentation, cell growth, neurotransmission and hormone secretion. Its fundamental mechanisms are conserved among organelles, tissues and organisms. As befits a conserved process, reductionism led to its study in microorganisms. Homotypic fusion of the vacuole of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is particularly accessible to study as vacuoles are readily visualized, there is a rapid and quantitative in vitro assay of vacuole fusion, and the genetics and genomics of this organism and of vacuole fusion are highly advanced. Recent progress is reviewed in the context of general questions in the membrane fusion field.

  • Keywords:

    • GTPases,
    • phosphoinositides,
    • SNARES