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Updated: Apr 17, 2026

Analysis of SNARE-mediated Membrane Fusion Using an Enzymatic Cell Fusion Assay
Published on: October 19, 2012
Expression of the SNARE protein SNAP-23 is essential for cell survival
Sunil Kaul1, Sharad K Mittal1, Lionel Feigenbaum2
1Experimental Immunology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
Abstract:
Members of the SNARE-family of proteins are known to be key regulators of the membrane-membrane fusion events required for intracellular membrane traffic. The ubiquitously expressed SNARE protein SNAP-23 regulates a wide variety of exocytosis events and is essential for mouse development. Germline deletion of SNAP-23 results in early embryonic lethality in mice, and for this reason we now describe mice and cell lines in which SNAP-23 can be conditionally-deleted using Cre-lox technology. Deletion of SNAP-23 in CD19-Cre expressing mice prevents B lymphocyte development and deletion of SNAP-23 using a variety of T lymphocyte-specific Cre mice prevents T lymphocyte development. Acute depletion of SNAP-23 in mouse fibroblasts leads to rapid apoptotic cell death. These data highlight the importance of SNAP-23 for cell survival and describe a mouse in which specific cell types can be eliminated by expression of tissue-specific Cre-recombinase.
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