Scientists affiliated with Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have recently identified a key molecule during chemoattraction between sperm and egg cells in marine invertebrates. The study which was recently published in Nature Communications.
One hundred years ago, MBL director F.R.Lillie of the University of Chicago discovered that eggs from marine invertebrates release a chemical factor that attracts sperm, a process called Chemotaxis
Also, in the past years, many of the cellular components that translate chemoattractant stimulation into Ca2+ response have been revealed, but a crucial ingredient has been missing. A prerequisite for Ca2+ ions from the sperm's environment being able to enter the tail is that the sperm cell's pH becomes more alkaline. The mole that brings about this change in pH has been elusive.
In this recent report, MBL Whitman Center Scientist U.Benjamin Layup and his colleagues from the centre of advanced European studies (Caesar) in Bonn, Germany said the molecule identified allows sodium ions to follow into the sperm cell and, in exchange, transport s protons of the cell. But this s so-called sodium/proton exchanges have been known for a long time, but this one is special. It is a chimaera that shares structural features with ions channels, called pacemaker channels, which control our heartbeat and electrical activity in the brain.
This sodium/proton exchange is the sperm cell, like in the pacemaker channels, is activated by a stretch of positively charged amino acids called the voltage sensor. When sperm capture chemoattractant molecules, the voltage become more negative, because potassium channels open and potassium ions leave the cell. The voltage-sensor registers this voltage change and the exchanger begins exporting protons from the cell, the cell's interior becomes more alkaline. When this mechanism is disabled, the Ca2+ pulses in the sperm tail are suppressed, and sperm is lost on their voyage to the egg.
More information: F. Windler et al, the solve carrier slc9cl is Na+/H+- exchanger gated by an S4-type voltage-sensor and cyclic-nucleotide binding, Nature comms(2018) Dol: 10.|038|s41467-018-05253-x
Sources: Marine Biological Laboratory
Chemotaxis: Orientation or movement of an organism or cell in relation to chemical agents.
One hundred years ago, MBL director F.R.Lillie of the University of Chicago discovered that eggs from marine invertebrates release a chemical factor that attracts sperm, a process called Chemotaxis
Also, in the past years, many of the cellular components that translate chemoattractant stimulation into Ca2+ response have been revealed, but a crucial ingredient has been missing. A prerequisite for Ca2+ ions from the sperm's environment being able to enter the tail is that the sperm cell's pH becomes more alkaline. The mole that brings about this change in pH has been elusive.
In this recent report, MBL Whitman Center Scientist U.Benjamin Layup and his colleagues from the centre of advanced European studies (Caesar) in Bonn, Germany said the molecule identified allows sodium ions to follow into the sperm cell and, in exchange, transport s protons of the cell. But this s so-called sodium/proton exchanges have been known for a long time, but this one is special. It is a chimaera that shares structural features with ions channels, called pacemaker channels, which control our heartbeat and electrical activity in the brain.
This sodium/proton exchange is the sperm cell, like in the pacemaker channels, is activated by a stretch of positively charged amino acids called the voltage sensor. When sperm capture chemoattractant molecules, the voltage become more negative, because potassium channels open and potassium ions leave the cell. The voltage-sensor registers this voltage change and the exchanger begins exporting protons from the cell, the cell's interior becomes more alkaline. When this mechanism is disabled, the Ca2+ pulses in the sperm tail are suppressed, and sperm is lost on their voyage to the egg.
More information: F. Windler et al, the solve carrier slc9cl is Na+/H+- exchanger gated by an S4-type voltage-sensor and cyclic-nucleotide binding, Nature comms(2018) Dol: 10.|038|s41467-018-05253-x
Sources: Marine Biological Laboratory
Chemotaxis: Orientation or movement of an organism or cell in relation to chemical agents.
The Rules of Attraction: Scientists Find Elusive Molecule That Helps Sperm Find Egg
Reviewed by Ridwan
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August 06, 2018
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Reviewed by Ridwan
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August 06, 2018
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