MEMBRANE ELECTROFUSION - A PARADIGM FOR STUDY OF MEMBRANE-FUSION MECHANISMS

This chapter describes the status of the electrofusion paradigm as it applies to the study of membrane fusion mechanisms. It explains the requirements for obtaining electrofusion in erythrocyte membranes (and its applicability to other membrane systems). Electrofusion is an interdisciplinary method, which is simple in overall concept, has novel characteristics, and is used successfully in many laboratories for various purposes and applications. Electrofusion depends on the use of a specific electric field treatment as a fusogen. Electrofusion has characteristics, which offer unique experimental access to the fusion event for mechanistic studies. For practical applications, electrofusion provides much higher fusion yields than chemical fusogens. It allows fusion to occur at low yields when chemical fusogens completely fail or have other undesirable characteristics. The four features of electrofusion, which may confer unique and advantageous characteristics to a mechanistic-oriented experiment are (1) it is nonchemical, (2) the fusogenic membrane alteration can be applied simultaneously to all membranes, (3) fusions can be induced in high yields, and (4) electrofusion is broadly applicable to a wide variety of cell and membrane types, including vesicular membranes. © 1993, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.