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Sperm–egg adhesion and fusion in mammals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2009

Peter Sutovsky
Affiliation:
Division of Animal Sciences and Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health, University of Missouri-Columbia, S141 ASRC, 920 East Campus Drive, Columbia, MO 65211-5300, USA. Tel: +1 573 882 3329; Fax: +1 573 884 5540; E-mail: sutovskyp@missouri.edu

Abstract

Fertilisation is an orchestrated, stepwise process during which the participating male and female gametes undergo irreversible changes, losing some of their structural components while contributing others to the resultant zygote. Following sperm penetration through the egg coat, the sperm plasma membrane fuses with its oocyte counterpart, the oolemma. At least two plasma membrane proteins essential for sperm–oolemma fusion – IZUMO and CD9 on the male and female gametes, respectively – have been identified recently by classical cell biology approaches and confirmed by gene deletion. Oolemma-associated tetraspanin CD81, closely related to CD9, also appears to have an essential role in fusion. Additional proteins that may have nonessential yet still facilitating roles in sperm–oolemma adhesion and fusion include oolemma-anchored integrins and oocyte-expressed retroviral envelope proteins, sperm disintegrins, and sperm-borne proteins of epididymal origin such as CRISP1 and CRISP2. This review discusses these components of the gamete fusion mechanism within the framework of gamete structure, membrane biology, cell signalling and cytoskeletal dynamics, and revisits the topic of antipolyspermy defence at the oolemma level. Harnessing the mechanisms of sperm–egg fusion is of importance to animal biotechnology and to human assisted fertilisation, wherein male patients with reduced sperm fusibility have been identified.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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References

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Further reading, resources and contacts

Recent review articles on sperm–oolemma fusion:

Websites with useful information on fertilisation mechanisms in animals:

Primakoff, P. and Myles, D.G. (2007) Cell-cell membrane fusion during mammalian fertilization. FEBS Letters 581, 2174-2180CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Inoue, N. et al. (2007) Sperm-egg interaction and gene manipulated animals. Society of Reproduction and Fertility Supplement 65, 363-371Google ScholarPubMed
Vjugina, U. and Evans, J.P. (2008) New insights into the molecular basis of mammalian sperm-egg membrane interactions. Frontiers in Bioscience 13, 462-476CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suarez, S.S. and Pacey, A.A. (2006) Sperm transport in the female reproductive tract. Human Reproduction Update 12, 23-37CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
http://www.stanford.edu/group/Urchin/path.html (Sea Urchin Embryology, Stanford University)Google Scholar
http://8e.devbio.com/chapter.php?ch=7 (DevBio: Companion to Developmental Biology by S. Gilbert)Google Scholar
http://zygote.swarthmore.edu/chap4.html (Zygote, a virtual library of developmental biology)Google Scholar
Primakoff, P. and Myles, D.G. (2007) Cell-cell membrane fusion during mammalian fertilization. FEBS Letters 581, 2174-2180CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Inoue, N. et al. (2007) Sperm-egg interaction and gene manipulated animals. Society of Reproduction and Fertility Supplement 65, 363-371Google ScholarPubMed
Vjugina, U. and Evans, J.P. (2008) New insights into the molecular basis of mammalian sperm-egg membrane interactions. Frontiers in Bioscience 13, 462-476CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suarez, S.S. and Pacey, A.A. (2006) Sperm transport in the female reproductive tract. Human Reproduction Update 12, 23-37CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
http://www.stanford.edu/group/Urchin/path.html (Sea Urchin Embryology, Stanford University)Google Scholar
http://8e.devbio.com/chapter.php?ch=7 (DevBio: Companion to Developmental Biology by S. Gilbert)Google Scholar
http://zygote.swarthmore.edu/chap4.html (Zygote, a virtual library of developmental biology)Google Scholar