rumy dimova
Dynamics of membrane fusion.Giant vesicles are used to visualize membrane fusion. Their sizes areon the order of tens of micrometers while the membrane of which theyare composed is only 4 nanometers thick. They can be visualized withfluorescence microscopy.On this image, fusion of giant unilamellar vesicles (cross-sectionsof vesicles labeled in green and red acquired with confocalmicroscopy, top) is achieved using electrofusion (three fusionsequences, middle). Fusing vesicles of different composition leads toformation of vesicles with domains (3D vesicle images, bottom right).The opening of the fusion necks is very fast, with an averageexpansion velocity of centimeters per second; see Haluska et al. Proc.Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 103, 15841-15846 (2006).