Abstract
In view of the importance of vesicles as models for early cells, several groups have startedwork looking for conditions under which vesicles can undergo growth and division.Evidence for growth and division has been obtained with the help of ferritin-labelledvesicles; furthermore, it has been shown that in such processes the vesicle size distributionis largely conserved. In both cases, the data suggest that the process under study is mainlycharacterized by vesicle growth and eventually division into daughter vesicles. However,direct evidence for vesicle division has not been obtained. In this paper, mostly basedon freeze-fracture electron microscopy, we describe conditions under which forthe first time division intermediates can be trapped in the form of twin vesicles.This finding, together with supporting dynamic light scattering and fluorescenceinvestigations, permits us to establish some additional points in the mechanism of vesicleself-reproduction.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
