The world's first wiki where authorship really matters (Nature Genetics, 2008). Due credit and reputation for authors. Imagine a global collaborative knowledge base for original thoughts. Search thousands of articles and collaborate with scientists around the globe.

wikigene or wiki gene protein drug chemical gene disease author authorship tracking collaborative publishing evolutionary knowledge reputation system wiki2.0 global collaboration genes proteins drugs chemicals diseases compound
Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)
 
 
 

FER-1 regulates Ca2+ -mediated membrane fusion during C. elegans spermatogenesis.

FER-1 is required for fusion of specialized vesicles, called membranous organelles, with the sperm plasma membrane during Caenorhabditis elegans spermiogenesis. To investigate its role in membranous organelle fusion, we examined ten fer-1 mutations and found that they all cause the same defect in membrane fusion. FER-1 and the ferlin protein family are membrane proteins with four to seven C2 domains. These domains commonly mediate Ca2+ -dependent lipid-processing events. Most of the fer-1 mutations fall within these C2 domains, showing that they have distinct, non-redundant functions. We found that membranous organelle fusion requires intracellular Ca2+ and that C2 domain mutations alter Ca2+ sensitivity. This suggests that the C2 domains are involved in Ca2+ sensing and further supports their independent function. Using two immunological approaches we found three FER-1 isoforms, two of which might arise from FER-1 by proteolysis. By both light and electron microscopy, these FER-1 proteins were found to be localized to membranous organelle membranes. Dysferlin, a human homologue of FER-1 involved in muscular dystrophy, is required for vesicle fusion during Ca2+ -induced muscle membrane repair. Our results suggest that the ferlin family members share a conserved mechanism to regulate cell-type-specific membrane fusion.[1]

References

 
WikiGenes - Universities