Dependence of myoblast fusion on a cortical actin wall and nonmuscle myosin IIA.

ABSTRACT: Cell-cell fusion is a fundamental cellular process that is essential for development as well as fertilization. Myoblast fusion to form multinucleated skeletal muscle myotubes is a well studied, yet incompletely understood example of cell-cell fusion that is essential for formation of contractile skeletal muscle tissue. Studies in this report identify several novel cytoskeletal events essential to an early phase of myoblast fusion among cultured murine myoblasts. During myoblast pairing and alignment, cortical actin filaments organize into a dense actin wall structure that parallels and extends the length of the plasma membrane of the bipolar, aligned cells. As fusion progresses, gaps appear within the actin wall at sites of vesicle accumulation, the vesicles pair across the aligned myoblas

SUBMITTER: Duan R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2823627 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature