Somatic Cell Fusion, Hybrid Cells, Malignancy, Uninucleate Hybrid Cells, Polyethylene Glycol, Gene Mapping, Hybridomas, Myoblasts

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	Somatic Cell Fusion - Fusion of different types of cells has been successfully achieved in animals to produce hybrid cells. These hybrid cells can be used for a variety of purposes including the following: (i) study of the control of gene expression and differentiation, (ii) study of the problem of 'malignancy', (iii) viral replication, (iv) gene mapping, (v) production of hybridomas for antibody production, etc..
In view of this, cell fusion in animals has been studied in some detail. Although there are examples of cell fusion within the body (e.g. myoblasts fusing to form multinucleate muscle fibres), they can also be fused in vitro to produce binucleate heterokaryons (cells fuse, but two types of nuclei do not fuse) or uninucleate hybrid cells. In 1960s, in France, hybrid cells were obtained from mixed cultures of two different cell lines derived from mouse. Later many successful attempts of cell fusion using widely different taxa were made. Sendai virus is often used to induce such a cell fusion. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) and certain other chemicals can also induce fusion of cells. Removal of surface carbohydrates may sometimes, be necessary for successful cell fusion.