Sperm-egg interaction: is there a link between tetraspanin(s) and GPI-anchored protein(s)?
Both female mice deficient in CD9 tetraspanin- and oocyte-specific glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-anchored family proteins showed severely reduced fertility due to the failure of sperm-egg fusion. This raises the question of a link between these two groups of proteins at the oocyte membrane. We propose two hypotheses to explain why the absence of one of these proteins from the oocyte membrane results in the same phenotype. The first hypothesis envisages different levels of control by these molecules of the common induced signaling cascade. The second relies on the known involvement of these molecules in the overall organization of the plasma membrane. Their disappearance could thus prevent sperm-egg fusion either by disruption of the signaling cascade and/or by an important disorganization of the oocyte membrane. In this review, describing their structural and functional characteristics, and using published results on the oocyte, we try to analyze how these two protein families could interact.
Lefèvre
Brigitte
B
Institut Cochin, Université Paris Descartes, AP-HP (Hôpital Cochin), 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques. F75014 Paris, France. brigitte.lefevre@parisdescartes.fr
Wolf
Jean-Philippe
JP
Ziyyat
Ahmed
A
D000818:Animals; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D010063:Ovum / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D011485:Protein Binding; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D060245:Tetraspanin 29
D015703:Antigens, CD; C554869:CD9 protein, human; C486565:Caprin1 protein, mouse; C554870:Cd9 protein, mouse; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D060245:Tetraspanin 29