A discovery by scientists at the Weizmann Institute has shed light on the process of natural muscle formation which may lead to new and advanced methods for healing muscle.
The research focuses on the way that cell membranes fuse into one larger cell, a stage of muscle development that has long been a mystery to the scientific world.
The study was carried out by research student Rada Massarwa and lab technician Shari Carmon under the guidance of Dr. Eyal Schejter and Prof. Ben-Zion Shilo of the Institute’s Molecular Genetics Department. An article describing these findings appears in the April 10th edition of the journal Developmental Cell.
Fruit fly muscle fibers: (right) normal embryos and (left) embryos missing the WIP gene. The normal fibers consist of large multi-nucleated cells, while the mutant muscles are thin and disorganized, due to failure of muscle cells to fuse with the founder muscle cells
The findings may lead to ways of fusing stem cells with injured or degenerated muscle fibers.
In addition, fusion between cell membranes plays a key role in development of different kinds of bone cells, placental cells and immune system cells, as well as in fertilization and in the penetration of viruses into living cells. Understanding how membrane fusion takes place may one day lead to the development of ways to encourage the process when it is needed or hinder it when it is liable to cause harm.