title: Human sperm do not bind to rat zonae pellucidae despite the presence of four homologous glycoproteins.
abstract: The specificity of sperm-egg recognition in mammals is mediated primarily by the zona pellucida surrounding ovulated eggs. Mouse sperm are quite promiscuous and bind to human eggs, but human spermatozoa will not bind to mouse eggs. The mouse zona pellucida contains three glycoproteins, ZP1, ZP2, and ZP3, which are conserved in rat and human. The recent observation that human zonae pellucidae contain a fourth protein raises the possibility that the presence of four zona proteins will support human sperm binding. Using mass spectrometry, four proteins that are similar in size and share 62-70% amino acid identity with human ZP1, ZP2, ZP3, and ZP4/ZPB were detected in rat zonae pellucidae. However, although mouse and rat spermatozoa bind to eggs from each rodent, human sperm bind to neither, and the presence of human follicular fluid did not alter the specificity of sperm binding. In addition, mutant mouse eggs lacking hybrid/complex N-glycans or deficient in Core 2 O-glycans were no more able to support human sperm binding than normal mouse eggs. These data suggest that the presence of four zona proteins are not sufficient to support human sperm binding to rodent eggs and that additional determinants must be responsible for taxon-specific fertilization among mammals.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cellular and Developmental Biology, NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. tanyah@intra.niddk.nih.gov
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hoodbhoy
authors.forename: Saurabh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.forename: Emily S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Boja
authors.forename: Suzannah A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.forename: Jurrien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dean
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D003545:Cysteine / Q000737:chemistry; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D004220:Disulfides; D004527:Egg Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry; D011485:Protein Binding; D051381:Rats; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000737:chemistry*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013045:Species Specificity; D013075:Sperm Capacitation; D013084:Sperm-Ovum Interactions; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism*; D015044:Zona Pellucida / Q000378:metabolism*; D000072216:Zona Pellucida Glycoproteins
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004220:Disulfides; D004527:Egg Proteins; D006023:Glycoproteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011134:Polysaccharides; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; C000606514:ZP1 protein, human; C000606515:ZP2 protein, human; C000606517:ZP3 protein, human; D000072216:Zona Pellucida Glycoproteins; C000606519:Zp1 protein, mouse; C000606520:Zp2 protein, mouse; C000606521:Zp3 protein, mouse; C000606522:Zp4 protein, rat; D003545:Cysteine