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	Tanya Hoodbhoy, Saurabh Joshi, Emily S Boja, Suzannah A Williams, Pamela Stanley, Jurrien Dean
Journal	The Journal of biological chemistry (J Biol Chem) Vol. 280 Issue 13 Pg. 12721-31 (Apr 01 2005) ISSN: 0021-9258 [Print] United States
PMID	15677449 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
Chemical References	DNA, Complementary Disulfides Egg Proteins Glycoproteins Membrane Glycoproteins Polysaccharides Receptors, Cell Surface ZP1 protein, human ZP2 protein, human ZP3 protein, human Zona Pellucida Glycoproteins Zp1 protein, mouse Zp2 protein, mouse Zp3 protein, mouse Zp4 protein, rat Cysteine
Topics	Amino Acid Sequence Animals Chromatography, Liquid Cysteine (chemistry) DNA, Complementary (metabolism) Disulfides Egg Proteins (chemistry) Exons Female Fertilization Glycoproteins (chemistry) Humans Male Mass Spectrometry Membrane Glycoproteins (chemistry) Mice Molecular Sequence Data Polysaccharides (chemistry) Protein Binding Rats Receptors, Cell Surface (chemistry) Sequence Homology, Amino Acid Species Specificity Sperm Capacitation Sperm-Ovum Interactions Spermatozoa (metabolism) Zona Pellucida (metabolism) Zona Pellucida Glycoproteins

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