  The electron-conduction properties of fullerene chains are examined by
first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory. The
conductivity of the C$_{60}$ dimer is low owing to the constraint of the
junction of the molecules on electron conduction, whereas the C$_{60}$ monomer
exhibits a conductance of $\sim$ 1 G$_0$. One of the three degenerate $t_{u1}$
states of C$_{60}$ is relevant to conduction and the contributions of the
others are small. In addition, we found a more interesting result that the
conductance of the fullerene chain is drastically increased by encapsuling
metal atoms into cages.
