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FERTILIZATION

Plant sperm need a little help

Fusion of lipid bilayers to deliver genetic information is a process common to both viral infection and fertilization, and the two share common molecular mechanisms. Now, identification of fusion-facilitators shows that plants have their own unique slant on the fusion process.

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Fig. 1: Possible functions for DMP8 and 9 during gamete membrane fusion.

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Correspondence to William J. Snell.

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Zhang, J., Pinello, J.F. & Snell, W.J. Plant sperm need a little help. Nat. Plants 5, 247–248 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-019-0385-0

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