Journal
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Volume 28, Issue 7, Pages 1963-1966Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msr026
Keywords
fertilization; egg-sperm interaction; egg coat; zona pellucida domain; yeast mating; protein structure
Funding
- National Institute of Health (NIH) [HD057974, HD042563, HD 054631, HD12986]
- Center for Biosciences
- Swedish Research Council [2009-5193]
- EMBO Young Investigator award
- European Research Council under the European Union [(FP7/2007-2013)/ERC, 260759]
- European Research Council (ERC) [260759] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
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Species-specific recognition between egg and sperm, a crucial event that marks the beginning of fertilization in multicellular organisms, mirrors the binding between haploid cells of opposite mating type in unicellular eukaryotes such as yeast. However, as implied by the lack of sequence similarity between sperm-binding regions of invertebrate and vertebrate egg coat proteins, these interactions are thought to rely on completely different molecular entities. Here, we argue that these recognition systems are, in fact, related: despite being separated by 0.6-1 billion years of evolution, functionally essential domains of a mollusc sperm receptor and a yeast mating protein adopt the same 3D fold as egg zona pellucida proteins mediating the binding between gametes in humans.
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