Fertilization comprises a series of precisely orchestrated steps that culminate in the fusion of male and female gametes. The most intimate steps during fertilization encompass gamete recognition, adhesion and fusion. In animals, some binding-effector proteins and enzymes have been identified that act on the cell surfaces of the gametes to regulate gamete compatibility and fertilization success...

Double fertilization in angiosperms involves several successive steps, including guidance and reception of the pollen tube and male-female gamete recognition. Each step entails extensive communication and interaction between two different reproductive cell or tissue types. Extensive research has focused on the pollen tube, namely, its interaction with the stigma and reception by maternal cells....

dear editor, today some infertile couples who want to have children have request for getting gametes which is a confidential process. according to law, no person must know the identity of the gamete providers (1). confidentiality of information relating to gamete and embryo donation can cause serious ethical problems. in some countries, forming the bank of gametes and embryos is intended as a w...

Fertilization is a crucial yet poorly characterized event in eukaryotes. Our previous discovery that the broadly conserved protein HAP2 (GCS1) functioned in gamete membrane fusion in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas and the malaria pathogen Plasmodium led us to exploit the rare biological phenomenon of isogamy in Chlamydomonas in a comparative transcriptomics strategy to uncover additio...

Fertilization is the process by which two terminally differentiated cells, the sperm and the egg, merge to form a totipotent cell, the zygote. This review addresses one of the culminating steps in getting sperm and egg together: the cell-cell interactions that allow the two gametes to fuse and create the zygote. Based on cell biological and genetic studies, major players include CD9 on the egg ...

Fertilization is one of the most important processes in all organisms utilizing sexual reproduction. In a previous study, we succeeded in identifying a novel male gametic transmembrane protein GCS1 (GENERATIVE CELL SPECIFIC 1), also called HAP2 (HAPLESS 2) in the male-sterile Arabidopsis thaliana mutants, as a factor critical to gamete fusion in flowering plants. Interestingly, GCS1 is highly c...

Wars and natural disasters causing thousands of deaths and forcing millions to fl ee occur frequently and are widely reported to a global audience. However, responses in terms of charity donations, demonstrations, political response and military intervention are dramatically different between one case and the next. When and why do we care about victims of humanitarian crises? Michael Gross inve...

The practice of gamete donation has, until recently, been shrouded in secrecy. The stigma associated with infertility and, in particular, donor insemination has been the main factor contributing to this secrecy. Over the last 20 years, this secrecy and the anonymity of the gamete donors has been challenged. In the first instance, the challenge came from governments in some countries legislating...

The fusion of Chlamydomonas gamete membranes leads to rapid degradation of FUS1 and HAP2, proteins required for gamete fusion. This provides a mechanism to prevent any subsequent fusion events, thereby preventing polygamy.

Understanding the basic life history and underlying regulatory mechanisms for a pest insect is essential for developing targeted control strategies, but for many insects relatively little is known. Although the western tarnished plant bug, Lygus hesperus Knight (Heteroptera: Miridae) has a substantial negative impact in the western U.S., its basic biology is poorly characterized. To elucidate t...