Evidence for the fusion of extracellular vesicles with/without DNA to form specific structures in fertilized chicken eggs, mice and rats

Abstract

With a combination of cultivation and phase-contrast and fluorescence microscopic observation, we first found that fusion of extracellular vesicles with or without membranes occurred in fertilized chicken eggs. In order to find solid evidence for fusion, we collected many fusion data from various tissues; primo vessels and pancreases of mice and pancreases and omentums of rats. Especially, by using acridine orange vital staining to demonstrate DNA and phase-contrast and fluorescence microscopy for long real-time observation, we found that many of the extracellular vesicles involved in the fusion process contained DNAs. The fusions fall into two main patterns: pattern A characterizes a fusion of less agitated extracellular vesicles without membranes. Pattern B is a fusion of vigorously vibrating extracellular vesicles in a certain membrane. Considering all data, tables, pictures and movies, we were able to show fusions of DNA extracellular vesicles without or with membranes in several tissues of three species. Interestingly, some of the fused structures share the same morphology as normal cell's in terms of overall shape, size and DNA signals in the center. Thus, in this article we first report the evidence for the fusion of extracellular vesicles with/without DNA toward a specific structure and discuss our findings by comparing with those of other pioneer's works in search for a mitosis-free alternative pathway for generating new cells. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.