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Single cell neuro-sensory dynamics: Ca2+chemoreceptor-guided sea urchin sperm motility
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2202-14-S1-P173
© Kutz et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013
- Published: 8 July 2013
Keywords
- Sperm Cell
- Sperm Motility
- Swimming Speed
- Fluid Environment
- Olfactory Receptor Neuron
Neuro-sensory systems are critical for integrating environmental stimuli and providing a framework for resolving decision-making tasks. Remarkably, the molecular mechanisms mediating transduction of sensory information in neurons are also found in other cellular tissues, including sperm. One mechanism facilitating such behavior is a sperm's ability to perform chemotaxis to egg-derived compounds, a phenomenon in which sperm orient to an attractant gradient around an egg. The ensuing motility of the sperm cell is driven by attractants binding to olfactory G-coupled receptor proteins - located on the cell membrane surface - that elicits a signal transduction cascade similar to the one that occurs in the mammalian olfactory neurons located in the nasal epithelium. Receptor binding of the egg-derived compound elicits a cyclic-AMP transduction cascade that produces localized, cytosolic Ca2+ responses in the cell body. This response in turn controls flagellar beating via Ca2+ -sensitive axonemal motor proteins [1]. Thus through a process of chemo-sensory integration, analogous to that which occurs in olfactory receptor neurons, the sperm cell is driven to interact with its fluid environment for the specific goal of fertilization.
Trajectory of sperm under chemotaxis along with an illustration of the modal shapes and calcium dynamics associated with swimming for both chemo- and non-chemotaxing behavior.
Authors’ Affiliations
References
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Copyright
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.