title: Why so many sperm cells?
abstract: A key limiting step in fertility is the search for the oocyte by spermatozoa. Initially, there are tens of millions of sperm cells, but a single one will make it to the oocyte. This may be one of the most severe selection processes designed by evolution, whose role is yet to be understood. Why such a huge redundancy is required and what does that mean for the search process? we discuss here these questions and consequently new lines of interdisciplinary research needed to find possible answers.
authors.affiliation: Biologie du Développement et Reproduction; Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort ; Paris, France.
authors.forename: Karine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Reynaud
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Mathematics; Tel-Aviv University ; Tel-Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Zeev
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Schuss
authors.affiliation: Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology ; INSERM U1050, CNRS UMR 7241, Collège de France ; Paris, France.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rouach
authors.affiliation: Group of Computational Biology and Applied Mathematics ; IBENS, CNRS-INSERM U1024, Ecole Normale Supérieure ; Paris, France.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Holcman
keywords: fertility; first passage time; narrow escape; spermatozoa; uterus