New research from the Cabernard Lab on cell fusion was recently published in Communications Biology(link is external). Authors of the paper include Bharath Sunchu(link is external) and Nicole Lee, former postdoctoral researcher and former lab technician in the Cabernard lab, respectively; Carlos Segura and Jenny Taylor, current UW MCB graduate student and current postdoctoral researcher in the Cabernard lab, respectively; and UW Biology Associate Professor Clemens Cabernard. Congratulations to all!
When two cells fuse with each other, they mix their cytoplasm, organelles and chromosomes in a shared cell body. Cell-cell fusion occurs during fertilization, when an egg cell fuses with a sperm cell, during muscle formation or in the liver. It has been found that the first division of the fertilized zygote in insects, arthropods and mice separates the chromosomes from the egg and the sperm by forming two spindles – one spindle is attaching and separating the sperm chromosomes, the other spindle is the egg chromosomes. Similarly, when somatic cells fuse in culture, the resulting hybrid cells usually form two spindles compartmentalizing and separating the different chromosome sets. How hybrid cells distinguish and separate chromosomes from different cell types is an open question in cell and developmental biology.
