Access
To read this article in full you may need to log in, make a payment or gain access through a site license (see right).
Essay
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 15, 655–657 (1 July 2008) | doi:10.1038/nsmb0708-655
Some classic papers in the field of membrane fusion|[mdash]|a personal view
Abstract
Over the past 30 years, three main lines of research have made important contributions to our present understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in membrane fusion: (i) the development and quantitative treatment of physical models describing the fusion of planar and curved bilayers at various levels of complexity and detail; (ii) the structural and mechanistic insights obtained from the investigation of fusion proteins of enveloped viruses, with research on the fusion protein of the influenza virus having made seminal contributions; and (iii) the study of fusion proteins involved in fusion events of eukaryotic cells, with the most important work being carried out on the SNARE proteins and associated regulatory proteins. In what follows, I will briefly discuss the studies that have helped form the basis for all subsequent work in the field of membrane fusion.
To read this article in full you may need to log in, make a payment or gain access through a site license (see right).
