title: Fusion of vacuoles--where are the membranes, and where are the holes?
abstract: In the February 8th issue of Cell, Wang et al. report the surprising finding that vacuolar fusion occurs at the periphery of the contact area of the vacuoles and not by the expansion of a central fusion pore. During fusion, a disk of boundary membrane is excised and left behind within the fused vacuoles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Thorsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jahn
mesh_terms: D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D008561:Membrane Fusion / Q000502:physiology*; D014617:Vacuoles / Q000502:physiology*