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Sperm chemotaxis is driven by the slope of the chemoattractant concentration field

H.V. Ramírez-Gómez, V. Jimenez Sabinina, M. Velázquez-Pérez, C. Beltrán, J. Carneiro, C.D. Wood, I. Tuval, A. Darszon, View ORCID ProfileA. Guerrero
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/148650
H.V. Ramírez-Gómez
1Departamento de Genética del Desarrollo y Fisiología Molecular, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Avenida Universidad 2001, Colonia Chamilpa, Cuernavaca, Morelos, 62210, México
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V. Jimenez Sabinina
2Cell Biology and Biophysics Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany
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M. Velázquez-Pérez
1Departamento de Genética del Desarrollo y Fisiología Molecular, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Avenida Universidad 2001, Colonia Chamilpa, Cuernavaca, Morelos, 62210, México
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C. Beltrán
1Departamento de Genética del Desarrollo y Fisiología Molecular, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Avenida Universidad 2001, Colonia Chamilpa, Cuernavaca, Morelos, 62210, México
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J. Carneiro
3Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), Rua da Quinta Grande, 6 2780-156, Oeiras, Portugal
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C.D. Wood
4Laboratorio Nacional de Microscopía Avanzada, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Cuernavaca, Morelos, 62210, México
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I. Tuval
5Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Balearic Islands, Spain
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A. Darszon
1Departamento de Genética del Desarrollo y Fisiología Molecular, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Avenida Universidad 2001, Colonia Chamilpa, Cuernavaca, Morelos, 62210, México
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  • For correspondence: adanog@ibt.unam.mx darszon@ibt.unam.mx
A. Guerrero
4Laboratorio Nacional de Microscopía Avanzada, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Cuernavaca, Morelos, 62210, México
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  • ORCID record for A. Guerrero
  • For correspondence: adanog@ibt.unam.mx darszon@ibt.unam.mx
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Abstract

Spermatozoa of marine invertebrates are attracted to their conspecific female gamete by diffusive molecules, called chemoattractants, released from the egg investments in a process known as chemotaxis. The information from the egg chemoattractant concentration field is decoded into intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) changes that regulate the internal motors that shape the flagellum as it beats. By studying sea urchin species-specific differences in sperm chemoattractant-receptor characteristics we show that receptor density constrains the steepness of the chemoattractant concentration gradient detectable by spermatozoa. Through analyzing different chemoattractant gradient forms, we demonstrate for the first time that Strongylocentrotus purpuratus sperm are chemotactic and this response is consistent with frequency entrainment of two coupled physiological oscillators: i) the stimulus function and ii) the [Ca2+]i changes. We demonstrate that the slope of the chemoattractant gradients provides the coupling force between both oscillators, arising as a fundamental requirement for sperm chemotaxis.

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Posted January 30, 2020.
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Sperm chemotaxis is driven by the slope of the chemoattractant concentration field
H.V. Ramírez-Gómez, V. Jimenez Sabinina, M. Velázquez-Pérez, C. Beltrán, J. Carneiro, C.D. Wood, I. Tuval, A. Darszon, A. Guerrero
bioRxiv 148650; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/148650
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Sperm chemotaxis is driven by the slope of the chemoattractant concentration field
H.V. Ramírez-Gómez, V. Jimenez Sabinina, M. Velázquez-Pérez, C. Beltrán, J. Carneiro, C.D. Wood, I. Tuval, A. Darszon, A. Guerrero
bioRxiv 148650; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/148650

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