An F-actin–enriched protrusion resembling an invasive podosome promotes fusion pore formation between muscle founder cells and fusion-competent myoblasts.

The development and regeneration of skeletal muscles require the fusion of mononulceated muscle cells to form multinucleated, contractile muscle fibers. Studies using a simple genetic model, Drosophila melanogaster, have discovered many evolutionarily conserved fusion-promoting factors in vivo. Recent work in zebrafish and mouse also identified several vertebrate-specific factors required for myoblast fusion. Here, we integrate progress in multiple in vivo systems and highlight conceptual advance in understanding how muscle cell membranes are brought together for fusion. We focus on the molecular machinery at the fusogenic synapse and present a three-step model to describe the molecular and cellular events leading to fusion pore formation.

Cell-cell fusion is critical for the conception, development and physiology of multicellular organisms. Although cellular fusogenic proteins and the actin cytoskeleton are implicated in cell-cell fusion, whether and how they coordinate to promote plasma membrane fusion remain unclear. Here, we reconstituted a high-efficiency, inducible cell-fusion culture system in the normally non-fusing Drosophila S2R+ cells. Both fusogenic proteins and actin cytoskeletal rearrangements were necessary for cell fusion, and, in combination, were sufficient to impart fusion competence. Localized actin polymerization triggered by specific cell-cell or cell-matrix adhesion molecules propelled invasive cell membrane protrusions, which, in turn, promoted fusogenic protein engagement and plasma membrane fusion. This de novo cell-fusion culture system reveals a general role for actin-propelled invasive membrane protrusions in driving fusogenic protein engagement during cell-cell fusion.