The plasma membranes of gametes are specialized for fusion, yet, once fusion occurs, in many organisms the new zygote becomes incapable of further membrane fusion reactions. The molecular mechanisms that underlie this loss of fusion capacity (block to polygamy) remain unknown. During fertilization in the green alga Chlamydomonas, the plus gamete-specific membrane protein FUS1 is required for ad...

Duplicate data are commonly seen and need to be properly handled in the process of an intelligent search/surveillance/tracking etc. For better detecting and fusing them, we take a brand new perspective on feature fusion based on the “collision and reaction” mechanism of data objects. This mechanism can greatly facilitate differentiating duplicate data and non-duplicate data in fusion (reaction)...

Figure 1: Fusion reaction rate coefficients Thermonuclear fusion is governed by the rate coefficient 〈σv〉 for fusion reactions, which for a particular reaction is a function only of (ion) temperature T . For the D-T reaction its value is roughly 5× 10−22 m−3s−1 at T = 20keV, the typical operating temperature of proposed reactors. The rate peaks a factor of only 2 higher at about 60keV temperatu...

Sec1/Munc18 (SM) proteins are required for every step of intracellular membrane fusion, but their molecular mechanism of action has been unclear. In this work, we demonstrate a fundamental role of the SM protein: to act as a stimulatory subunit of its cognate SNARE fusion machinery. In a reconstituted system, mammalian SNARE pairs assemble between bilayers to drive a basal fusion reaction. Munc...

Proton-boron fusion would offer considerable advantages for the purpose of energy production as reaction is aneutronic and does not involve radioactive species. Its exploitation, however, appears to be particularly challenging due low reactivity H-11B fuel at temperatures up 100 keV. Fusion chain-reaction concepts have been proposed possible means overcome this limitation. Relevant findings are...

The entry of enveloped viruses into cells requires the fusion of viral and cellular membranes, driven by conformational changes in viral glycoproteins. Many studies have shown that fusion involves the cooperative action of a large number of these glycoproteins, but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. We used electron microscopy and tomography to study the low pH-induced fusion reaction catal...