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First published online January 27, 2006

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CD9 eggs on gamete fusion

Sperm-egg fusion is critical for mammalian fertilization. Although some of the molecular interactions involved in this process in mice have been described, less is known about how human gametes fuse. Now, Jean-Philippe Wolf and colleagues report that the tetraspanin protein CD9 controls the redistribution of integrin 6ß1 and CD151 (a tetraspanin that associates with this integrin) into clusters in the oocyte plasma membrane that may be necessary for gamete fusion (see p. 416). Tetraspanins are cell surface proteins that regulate the activity of proteins with which they associate through the formation of multimolecular complexes. The authors show that CD9, which is essential for sperm-egg fusion, controls the formation of 6ß1 integrin clusters on mouse and human oocyte membranes. The role of 6ß1 integrin in mouse gamete fusion is controversial, but Wolf and co-workers show that an anti-6 integrin antibody blocks human sperm-egg fusion. These and other findings reported by the group constitute strong evidence that 6ß1 is involved and provide several new insights into how the membranes of gametes prepare for fusion.

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CD9 controls the formation of clusters that contain tetraspanins and the integrin 6ß1, which are involved in human and mouse gamete fusion

Ahmed Ziyyat, Eric Rubinstein, Frédérique Monier-Gavelle, Virginie Barraud, Olivier Kulski, Michel Prenant, Claude Boucheix, Morgane Bomsel, and Jean-Philippe Wolf
JCS 2006 119: 416-424. [Abstract] [Full Text]  

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in JCS Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?