title: Glycobiology of sperm-egg interactions in deuterostomes.
abstract: The process of fertilization begins when sperm contact the outermost egg investment and ends with fusion of the two haploid pronuclei in the egg cytoplasm. Many steps in fertilization involve carbohydrate-based molecular recognition between sperm and egg. Although there is conservation of gamete recognition molecules within vertebrates, their homologues have not yet been discovered in echinoderms and ascidians (the invertebrate deuterostomes). In echinoderms, long sulfated polysaccharides act as ligands for sperm receptors. Ascidians employ egg coat glycosides that are recognized by sperm surface glycosidases. Vertebrate egg coats contain zona pellucida (ZP) family glycoproteins, whose carbohydrates bind to sperm receptors. Several candidate sperm receptors for vertebrate ZP proteins have been identified and are discussed here. This brief review focuses on new information concerning fertilization in deuterostomes (the phylogenetic group including echinoderms, ascidians, and vertebrates) and highlights protein-carbohydrate interactions involved in this process.
authors.affiliation: Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093-0202, USA.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Mengerink
authors.forename: V D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Vacquier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004447:Echinodermata / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010063:Ovum / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D013084:Sperm-Ovum Interactions; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D014561:Urochordata / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000502:physiology*; D015044:Zona Pellucida / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; C035027:egg surface sperm receptor