Fig. 8.

Vesicle network fusion and material mixing. a Schematic and fluorescence images of a Rh-PE (yellow) and NBD-PE (green)-labelled vesicle fused to yield a larger vesicle containing both lipids. b A four-vesicle network where each vesicle junction is ruptured in turn by the laser, demonstrating spatial control of the process. c Dilution of both the cargo (calcein; green) and membrane material (Rh-PE; yellow) of a vesicle through sequential merging with two empty vesicles (dotted white circles). Graph shows mean fluorescence intensity of cargo and membrane (error bars = 1 s.d.; n = 10). White arrows show the VIM selected to fuse. Scale bars = 5 µm for all images