- Title:
- The Ly6/uPAR protein Bouncer is necessary and sufficient for species-specific fertilization
- Journal:
- Science 07 Sep 2018: Vol. 361, Issue 6406, pp. 1029-1033
- Author(s):
- Sarah Herberg1, Krista R. Gert1, Alexander Schleiffer1,2, Andrea Pauli1
- Author(s) affiliation:
- 1Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna Biocenter (VBC), 1030 Vienna, Austria.
2Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA), Vienna Biocenter (VBC), 1030 Vienna, Austria.
- Short description:
- Fertilization is fundamental for sexual reproduction, yet its molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. We found that an oocyte-expressed Ly6/uPAR protein, which we call Bouncer, is a crucial fertilization factor in zebrafish. Membrane-bound Bouncer mediates sperm-egg binding and is thus essential for sperm entry into the egg. Remarkably, Bouncer not only is required for sperm-egg interaction but is also sufficient to allow cross-species fertilization between zebrafish and medaka, two fish species that diverged more than 200 million years ago. Our study thus identifies Bouncer as a key determinant of species-specific fertilization in fish. Bouncer’s closest homolog in tetrapods, SPACA4, is restricted to the male germline in internally fertilizing vertebrates, which suggests that our findings in fish have relevance to human biology.
- Link to the journal
Abstract taken from PubMed
- Abstract:
- Fertilization is fundamental for sexual reproduction, yet its molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. We found that an oocyte-expressed Ly6/uPAR protein, which we call Bouncer, is a crucial fertilization factor in zebrafish. Membrane-bound Bouncer mediates sperm-egg binding and is thus essential for sperm entry into the egg. Remarkably, Bouncer not only is required for sperm-egg interaction but is also sufficient to allow cross-species fertilization between zebrafish and medaka, two fish species that diverged more than 200 million years ago. Our study thus identifies Bouncer as a key determinant of species-specific fertilization in fish. Bouncer’s closest homolog in tetrapods, SPACA4, is restricted to the male germline in internally fertilizing vertebrates, which suggests that our findings in fish have relevance to human biology.
- Link to the paper on PubMed
