title: Myoblast fusion: lessons from flies and mice.
abstract: The fusion of myoblasts into multinucleate syncytia plays a fundamental role in muscle function, as it supports the formation of extended sarcomeric arrays, or myofibrils, within a large volume of cytoplasm. Principles learned from the study of myoblast fusion not only enhance our understanding of myogenesis, but also contribute to our perspectives on membrane fusion and cell-cell fusion in a wide array of model organisms and experimental systems. Recent studies have advanced our views of the cell biological processes and crucial proteins that drive myoblast fusion. Here, we provide an overview of myoblast fusion in three model systems that have contributed much to our understanding of these events: the Drosophila embryo; developing and regenerating mouse muscle; and cultured rodent muscle cells.
authors.affiliation: Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA. sma@stowers.org
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Abmayr
authors.forename: Grace K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Pavlath
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000502:physiology; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002459:Cell Fusion; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology; D022081:Cell Surface Extensions / Q000378:metabolism; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D004330:Drosophila / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology*; D015726:Giant Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D008561:Membrane Fusion / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology*; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D032446:Myoblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins