“The microscopic union of sperm and egg might be life’s most fundamental encounter, but there’s a lot science doesn’t know about what happens at this crucial moment. In particular, researchers have struggled to pin down the molecular machinery that orchestrates how the two cells stick together, fuse, and share genetic material.
Two teams shine new light on the key first step of this process with the aid of AlphaFold, the artificial intelligence-powered technology that earned Google DeepMind researchers a share of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry earlier this month. Guided by its predictions, both have independently identified a complex of three proteins that sits on the head of a sperm and locks onto the surface of an egg cell during fertilization.
The findings, published in Cell today and in eLife in April, span zebrafish, mouse, and human proteins. Combined, they suggest a high level of conservation in how sperm stick to eggs across vertebrates and confirm suspicions that the interactions of multiple proteins are required, says Rutgers University’s Andrew Singson, who was not involved in either study.
The results also showcase the potential of AI to resolve problems that have long confounded scientists, especially for fields such as reproductive biology where experiments with human tissue might be unethical.”
From Science.