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SNAREs and Membrane Fusion

SNAREs and Membrane Fusion

Once a transport vesicle has recognized its target organelle, the vesicular membrane needs to fuse with the target membrane to unload the cargo. Transmembrane proteins called SNAREs present on organelle membranes and their vesicles, mediate vesicle fusion.
SNAREs exist in pairs that symmetrically interact and catalyze the fusion of the lipid bilayers in vesicle and target organelle. v-SNARE in the vesicle membrane are single polypeptide chains that bind to a complementary t-SNARE, composed of 2...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Method for Measurement of Viral Fusion Kinetics at the Single Particle Level

Method for Measurement of Viral Fusion Kinetics at the Single Particle Level

Published on: September 7, 2009

The pH sensor for flavivirus membrane fusion.

Stephen C Harrison¹

¹Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. harrison@crystal.harvard.edu

The Journal of Cell Biology

|October 22, 2008

Summary

Flaviviruses use a specific histidine in their envelope protein to sense endosomal pH. This protonation triggers conformational changes, enabling viral entry into the host cell cytosol.

Area of Science:

Virology
Cell Biology
Biochemistry

Background:

Viruses entering cells via endosomes often rely on pH sensing for cytosol penetration.
Identifying the precise pH sensor in viral fusion proteins, especially for enveloped viruses, has been a persistent challenge.

Discussion:

Fritz et al. identified a critical histidine residue in the tick-borne encephalitis virus envelope protein as the key pH sensor.
This histidine is located at a crucial domain interface, suggesting a pivotal role in the fusion mechanism.

Key Insights:

Protonation of this specific histidine residue initiates a significant conformational change in the viral envelope protein.
This conformational rearrangement is the direct trigger for the fusion of viral and endosomal membranes, facilitating viral entry.

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Last Updated: Jun 28, 2026

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Outlook:

This finding advances our understanding of flavivirus entry mechanisms.
The identified pH sensor could be a potential target for antiviral therapies aimed at blocking viral entry.