Fig. 4: Myoblasts reduce their cell surface crowding as they differentiate and undergo fusion.
From: Cell surface crowding is a tunable energetic barrier to cell-cell fusion
A The C2C12 line is a model for myoblast differentiation, during which cells elongate and then fuse. B Following serum starvation, wild type C2C12 cells were stained with CellMask Orange and Hoechst 33342, demonstrating myotube formation on day 6. C Following serum starvation, crowding was measured in wild C2C12 cells using the aforementioned crowding probe at two-day intervals. Error bars reflect SEM over three biologically independent replicates (left). Days 0 and 6 were directly compared and found to be significantly different by two tailed t test (p = 0.012). D Crowding was measured in Mymk−/− C2C12 cells following serum starvation. Error bars reflect SEM over three biologically independent replicates. Days 0 and 6 were directly compared and found to be significantly different by two tailed t test (p = 0.036). E The crowding sensor measures the energy to clear an IgG-sized patch of membrane. We extrapolate this measurement based on parameters from the literature to estimate \(\sim 200{k}_{{{{\rm{B}}}}}T\) for membrane apposition for a 100 nm fusion pore. F Full extrapolation of crowding sensor measurement to the energetic cost of membrane apposition (\(\Delta {U}_{{{{\rm{app}}}}}\), see Supplementary Information).
