Victoria E. Deneke, Andreas Blaha, Yonggang Lu, Johannes P. Suwita, Jonne M. Draper, Clara S. Phan, Karin Panser, Alexander Schleiffer, Laurine Jacob, Theresa Humer, Karel Stejskal, Gabriela Krssakova, Elisabeth Roitinger, Dominik Handler, Maki Kamoshita, Tyler D.R. Vance, Xinyin Wang, Joachim M. Surm, Yehu Moran, Jeffrey E. Lee, Andrea Pauli
{"title":"A conserved fertilization complex bridges sperm and egg in vertebrates","authors":"Victoria E. Deneke, Andreas Blaha, Yonggang Lu, Johannes P. Suwita, Jonne M. Draper, Clara S. Phan, Karin Panser, Alexander Schleiffer, Laurine Jacob, Theresa Humer, Karel Stejskal, Gabriela Krssakova, Elisabeth Roitinger, Dominik Handler, Maki Kamoshita, Tyler D.R. Vance, Xinyin Wang, Joachim M. Surm, Yehu Moran, Jeffrey E. Lee, Andrea Pauli","doi":"10.1016/j.cell.2024.09.035","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Fertilization, the basis for sexual reproduction, culminates in the binding and fusion of sperm and egg. Although several proteins are known to be crucial for this process in vertebrates, the molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Using an AlphaFold-Multimer screen, we identified the protein Tmem81 as part of a conserved trimeric sperm complex with the essential fertilization factors Izumo1 and Spaca6. We demonstrate that Tmem81 is essential for male fertility in zebrafish and mice. In line with trimer formation, we show that Izumo1, Spaca6, and Tmem81 interact in zebrafish sperm and that the human orthologs interact <em>in vitro</em>. Notably, complex formation creates the binding site for the egg fertilization factor Bouncer in zebrafish. Together, our work presents a comprehensive model for fertilization across vertebrates, where a conserved sperm complex binds to divergent egg proteins—Bouncer in fish and JUNO in mammals—to mediate sperm-egg interaction.","PeriodicalId":9656,"journal":{"name":"Cell","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":45.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cell","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2024.09.035","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Fertilization, the basis for sexual reproduction, culminates in the binding and fusion of sperm and egg. Although several proteins are known to be crucial for this process in vertebrates, the molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Using an AlphaFold-Multimer screen, we identified the protein Tmem81 as part of a conserved trimeric sperm complex with the essential fertilization factors Izumo1 and Spaca6. We demonstrate that Tmem81 is essential for male fertility in zebrafish and mice. In line with trimer formation, we show that Izumo1, Spaca6, and Tmem81 interact in zebrafish sperm and that the human orthologs interact in vitro. Notably, complex formation creates the binding site for the egg fertilization factor Bouncer in zebrafish. Together, our work presents a comprehensive model for fertilization across vertebrates, where a conserved sperm complex binds to divergent egg proteins—Bouncer in fish and JUNO in mammals—to mediate sperm-egg interaction.
期刊介绍:
Cells is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal that focuses on cell biology, molecular biology, and biophysics. It is affiliated with several societies, including the Spanish Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM), Nordic Autophagy Society (NAS), Spanish Society of Hematology and Hemotherapy (SEHH), and Society for Regenerative Medicine (Russian Federation) (RPO).
The journal publishes research findings of significant importance in various areas of experimental biology, such as cell biology, molecular biology, neuroscience, immunology, virology, microbiology, cancer, human genetics, systems biology, signaling, and disease mechanisms and therapeutics. The primary criterion for considering papers is whether the results contribute to significant conceptual advances or raise thought-provoking questions and hypotheses related to interesting and important biological inquiries.
In addition to primary research articles presented in four formats, Cells also features review and opinion articles in its "leading edge" section, discussing recent research advancements and topics of interest to its wide readership.