The 3D structure of the HAP2 protein, involved in this process in a unicellular alga, was solved using crystallization and X-ray diffraction. It appeared to be homologous to viral fusion proteins.
Some of the diffraction data were collected on PROXIMA-1 beamline..
These results were obtained by scientists from the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS and Paris Descartes University, together with American and German teams.
Read the Institut Pasteur press release.
Figure: structure of the HAP2 protein, of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. ©Thomas Krey