The long-term goals of my laboratory are to understand the cellular and molecular events that underlie gamete interactions and cell-cell fusion during fertilization. We use the unicellular, biflagellated alga Chlamydomonas for our studies. During Chlamydomonas fertilization, the interacting mt+ and mt- gametes undergo the cell biological events that characterize fertilization in almost all organisms. These events include: specific recognition and adhesion between gametes of opposite sex; adhesion-induced signal transduction and gamete activation; and adhesion and fusion between specialized fusogenic sites on the plasma membranes of the two gametes. The objectives of this proposal are to characterize the cellular and molecular mechanisms of gamete fusion. One focus of our studies will be on the FUS1 protein, which is encoded by an mt+, gamete-specific gene previously shown to be essential for cell-cell fusion. New sequence analysis indicates that FUS1 exhibits similarity to bacterial adhesion proteins. We have characterized the endogenous FUS1 protein and determined that it is approximately 95 kD and is localized to a small patch of membrane at the unactivated mt+ mating structure before gamete activation. Within seconds after gamete activation, FUS1 becomes distributed over the entire surface of the newly formed fertilization tubule. In addition, we discovered that not only are fus1- gametes unable to undergo gamete fusion, but they also fail to undergo a newly identified, mating structure adhesion step, called gamete docking. Thus, much like proteins involved in viral fusion, FUS1 is essential both for plasma membrane binding and plasma membrane fusion. Our new reagents and bioassays, in conjunction with the ease of genetic, biochemical, and molecular genetic manipulations in Chlamydomonas, now make it possible to carry out a detailed analysis of gamete plasma membrane adhesion/fusion in Chlamydomonas.
Our specific aims are to characterize the cellular and molecular properties of adhesion and fusion proteins in mt+ gametes; to identify mt+ gamete-specific proteins required for adhesion and fusion; to examine the functional domains of FUS1; and to identify and characterize adhesion and fusion proteins in mt- gametes. Currently, the molecular mechanisms of gamete fusion are not understood in any organism. Understanding gamete fusion in Chlamydomonas should inform future studies on human reproduction.
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