U.S.-Argentina Cooperative Research: Membrane Fusion and the Biochemical Mechanism Mediating Phagocytosis

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9310342 Stahl This U.S.-Argentina Program award will support the collaboration of Philip Stahl of Washington University and Luis Mayorga of the University of Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina. The project aims to advance knowledge of phagocytosis, a receptor-mediated process carried out by eucaryotic cell types specializing in host defense. The project will explore mechanisms whereby phagosomes, containing newly internalized materials, fuse with the appropriate intracellular vesicles (endosomes) to achieve targeting of the endocytosed materials. This is an important process for eukaryotic cells, with broad implications for such diverse processes as food uptake in unicellular organisms, vertebrate immune functions, the function of retinal photoreceptors in vision, and general homeostasis in multicellular organisms. The U.S. group will focus on the reconstitution of fusion events in permeabilized cell preparations and in identifying protein factors. The Argentine group will use magnetic latex spheres to purify phagosomes and to determine the role of receptors in intracellular fusion events. ***