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DC STAMP Domain: Intercompatibility Between SPE‐42 and Other Proteins
Author(s) -
Okeke Ikenna Simon
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.612.3
Subject(s) - sperm , caenorhabditis elegans , hermaphrodite , biology , human fertilization , caenorhabditis , gene , genetics , mutant , genome , phenotype , oocyte , embryo , evolutionary biology , zoology
C. elegans is a microscopic, free living nematode. It has a completely sequenced genome, a short generation period, produces large broods, and it is transparent. All of these features makes C. elegans a good model for the research we were conducting. C. elegans exists as self‐fertile hermaphrodites and males that can fertilize hermaphrodites with their sperm. C. elegans hermaphrodites with spe‐42 or let‐479 mutations are self‐sterile because their sperm are incapable of fertilizing oocytes despite being indistinguishable from wild type sperm. When the mutatant hermaphrodite is crossed with a male, the male's sperm are able to rescue the oocyte and fertilize it, showing that the mutant phenotype is a sperm cell‐specific error. This also opens up several questions about the role of spe‐42 in the fertilization of the oocytes. spe‐42 and let‐479 are not specific to C. elegans. Homologs of these genes have been found in all species that use sperm–egg fertilization techniques. In this work, we analyzed the amount of progeny produced when the DC‐STAMP domains, which are required for protein function, were swapped from other proteins into SPE‐42 or LET‐479. By using C. elegans as a model for fertilization help us become more knowledgeable about the reproductive systems of other organisms.