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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Aug 15.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2015 Aug 15;33:61–67. doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2015.07.010

Fig. 3. Fusion pore expansion is controlled by membrane tension, distance between the membranes and line tension of the pore edge.

Fig. 3

A. Membrane tension of 0.3mN/m is sufficient to drive fusion pore expansion for membranes (shown as light blue films) separated by ≥45nm. Proteins that mediate adhesion are shown as orange shapes. B. To drive fusion pore expansion in a tighter contact zone, the membranes have to be subjected to a higher tension. C. In the tight contact zone, accumulation of intracellular membrane-bending proteins at the rim of the pore would lower its line tension and, thus, the membrane tension required to drive the pore expansion.