ArticleGenes & development2008
The conserved plant sterility gene HAP2 functions after attachment of fusogenic membranes in Chlamydomonas and Plasmodium gametes.
Article in Genes & development, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 179 papers.
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Who cites it
179 citing papers in PubMed, 339 citations in OpenAlex.
- Molecular determinants of species-specific gamete adhesion triggering HAP2-mediated membrane fusion.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Characterization ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The SPARK complex forms the molecular basis of vertebrate fertilization.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A single-cell atlas of Toxoplasma sexual development in the feline intestinal tract.Nature microbiology · 2026Article
- A single-cell atlas ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Intermediate evolutionary state of motile sperm and pollen tubes in the extant gymnospermProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Crystal structure and nanobodies against domain 3 of the malaria parasite fusogen Plasmodium falciparum HAP2.The Biochemical journal · 2026Article
- Pfs48/45 nanobodies block Plasmodium falciparum transmission.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Toxoplasma gondii chromatin remodeler SWI/SNF controls parasite division and gene expression.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Article
- Targeting Bottlenecks in Malaria Transmission: Antibody-Epitope Descriptions Guide the Design of Next-Generation Biomedical Interventions.Immunological reviews · 2025Review
- Advances in the dissection of Anopheles-Plasmodium interactions.PLoS pathogens · 2025Review
- DUO1 Activated Zinc Finger (AtDAZ) protein role in the generative cell body morphogenesis.Plant molecular biology · 2025Article
- Plasmodium NEK1 coordinates MTOC organisation and kinetochore attachment during rapid mitosis in male gamete formation.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- The C-terminal region of the Plasmodium berghei gamete surface 184-kDa protein Pb184 contributes to fertilization and male gamete binding to the residual body.Parasites & vectors · 2024Article
- Novel requirements for HAP2/GCS1-mediated gamete fusion iniScience · 2024Article
- Article
- From gametes to zygote: Mechanistic advances and emerging possibilities in plant reproduction.Plant physiology · 2024Review
- Article
- Functional characterization of a conserved membrane protein, Pbs54, involved in gamete fertilization in Plasmodium berghei.International journal for parasitology · 2024Article
119 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie species-specific membrane fusion between male and female gametes remain largely unknown. Here, by use of gene discovery methods in the green alga Chlamydomonas, gene disruption in the rodent malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei, and distinctive features of fertilization in both organisms, we report discovery of a mechanism that accounts for a conserved protein required for gamete fusion. A screen for fusion mutants in Chlamydomonas identified a homolog of HAP2, an Arabidopsis sterility gene. Moreover, HAP2 disruption in Plasmodium blocked fertilization and thereby mosquito transmission of malaria. HAP2 localizes at the fusion site of Chlamydomonas minus gametes, yet Chlamydomonas minus and Plasmodium hap2 male gametes retain the ability, using other, species-limited proteins, to form tight prefusion membrane attachments with their respective gamete partners. Membrane dye experiments show that HAP2 is essential for membrane merger. Thus, in two distantly related eukaryotes, species-limited proteins govern access to a conserved protein essential for membrane fusion.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.