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Updated: Mar 7, 2026

Visualization of Germinosomes and the Inner Membrane in Bacillus subtilis Spores
Published on: April 15, 2019
The dynamics of signal complex formation mediating germling fusion in Neurospora crassa
Antonio Serrano1, Hamzeh H Hammadeh1, Stephanie Herzog1
1Institut für Genetik, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Spielmannstraβe 7, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany.
Abstract:
Colony initiation of filamentous fungi commonly involves fusion of germinating vegetative spores. Studies in Neurospora crassa revealed an unusual cell-cell communication mechanism mediating this process, in which the fusion partners coordinately alternate between two physiological stages, probably related to signal sending and receiving. This "cell dialog" involves the alternating, oscillatory recruitment of the SO protein and the MAK-2 MAP kinase module to the apical plasma membrane of growing fusion tips. In this review video article, we show the dynamics of the fluorescent labeled proteins SO and MAK-2 and provide an animated graphical model of the "cell dialog" process.
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