Egg-sperm interactions at fertilization in mammals

Paul M. Wassarman, Luca Jovine, Eveline S. Litscher, Huayu Qi, Zev Williams

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mammalian eggs are surrounded by a zona pellucida (ZP) that regulates egg-sperm teractions during fertilization. The ZP consists of long filaments composed of two glycoproteins, ZP2 and ZP3, that are crosslinked by a third glycoprotein, ZP1. The presence of both ZP2 and ZP3 is essential for assembling a ZP around growing oocytes, as well as for fertility of females. Acrosome-intact sperm recognize and bind to O-linked oligosaccharides linked to Ser residues at the sperm combining-site of ZP3. Structural differences in oligosaccharides on ZP3 from different species may account for whether or not sperm are able to bind to the ZP. Bound sperm undergo the acrosome reaction, penetrate the ZP, and can then fuse with egg plasma membrane. Following fertilization, sperm are unable to bind to either ZP3 or the ZP of one-cell embryos.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)S57-S60
JournalEuropean Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology
Volume115
Issue numberSUPPL.
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jul 2004
EventGenesis and Fate of the Preimplantation Embryo - Sorreno, Italy
Duration: 29 Sep 20031 Oct 2003

Keywords

  • Acrosome reaction
  • Eggs
  • Fertilization
  • Sperm
  • ZP glycoproteins
  • Zona pellucida

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