Molecular correlates of syncytialization in muscle and placenta

Syncytialization is one of the most fundamental processes in life. It is observed during development of muscle and osteoclast, and syncytiotrophoblast formation in placental villi. Syncytialization involves recognition, migration, adhesion and finally cell fusion between two interacting cells. It is an energy-dependent process which is essentially restricted to a small portion of interacting cellular membranes. Such regions of membranes may differ from other regions of cell surface in terms of physico-chemistry and expression of specific protein biomolecules resulting in restriction of this process to cells of specific competence. Despite the fact that membrane biologists have given significant quanta of efforts to understand the basic principle underlying this fundamental process of life, further large scale initiatives have to be undertaken to dissect the underlying molecular correlates central to this event.