Abstract

Diverse membrane fusion reactions in biology involve close contact between two lipid bilayers, followed by the local distortion of the individual bilayers and reformation into a single, merged membrane. We consider the structures and energies of the fusion intermediates identified in experimental and theoretical work on protein-free lipid bilayers. On the basis of this analysis, we then discuss the conserved fusion-through-hemifusion pathway of merger between biological membranes and propose that the entire progression, from the close juxtaposition of membrane bilayers to the expansion of a fusion pore, is controlled by protein-generated membrane stresses.

1. Section on Membrane Biology, Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biophysics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1855, USA.
2. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel.

Correspondence to: Leonid V Chernomordik¹ e-mail: chernoml@mail.nih.gov

Correspondence to: Michael M Kozlov² e-mail: michk@post.tau.ac.il

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