Cell-cell fusion is a physiological process playing an essential role for fertilization, shaping organs, tissue repair and immune defense in multicellular organisms. Recent research in the field aims to understand why two or more cells fuse each other and to decipher the general mechanisms regulating this process. Few basic and general steps can be identified, i.e. migration, adhesion and fusion, which are common to different types of cells. As pre-fused and fused cells undergo dramatic changes in their ultrastructure and behavior, the coordinated action of multiple factors is required, including adhesion molecules, cell surface receptors, intracellular kinases, transcription factors, and miRNAs. Although a number of reviews on cell-cell fusion have been published over the years, comprehensive reviews that broadly summarize this process including extracellular and intracellular cues are lacking. For example, a link between cell fusion and adhesive molecules and/or miRNAs has rarely been highlighted in the recent literature. In this review, we will summarize some molecular mechanisms controlling the process of somatic cell-cell fusion during embryonic development. We will specially focus on adhesive molecules, ECM components and miRNAs, providing a summary of important findings on their role in mediating this process in few model systems, in vertebrate and invertebrate organisms.

中文翻译：

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团结一致：驱动细胞跨物种融合的粘附力和分子机制。

细胞-细胞融合是一种生理过程，对多细胞生物的受精，整形器官，组织修复和免疫防御起着至关重要的作用。该领域的最新研究旨在了解为什么两个或多个细胞相互融合，并解释调节该过程的一般机制。几乎没有基本步骤和一般步骤可以识别，即迁移，粘附和融合，这是不同类型细胞所共有的。随着预融合和融合细胞的超微结构和行为发生巨大变化，需要多种因素的协同作用，包括粘附分子，细胞表面受体，细胞内激酶，转录因子和miRNA。尽管这些年来发表了许多有关细胞间融合的评论，缺乏全面概括该过程的全面综述，包括细胞外和细胞内提示。例如，在最近的文献中很少强调细胞融合与粘附分子和/或miRNA之间的联系。在这篇综述中，我们将总结一些在胚胎发育过程中控制体细胞融合过程的分子机制。我们将特别关注黏附分子，ECM成分和miRNA，总结其在脊椎动物和无脊椎动物生物体的几种模型系统中介导这一过程中的作用的重要发现。我们将总结一些在胚胎发育过程中控制体细胞融合过程的分子机制。我们将特别关注黏附分子，ECM成分和miRNA，总结其在脊椎动物和无脊椎动物生物体的几种模型系统中介导此过程中的作用方面的重要发现。我们将总结一些在胚胎发育过程中控制体细胞融合过程的分子机制。我们将特别关注黏附分子，ECM成分和miRNA，总结其在脊椎动物和无脊椎动物生物体的几种模型系统中介导此过程中的作用方面的重要发现。