摘要
In a recent study published in Cell,(Nishio et al.,2024)elucidated the molecular regulatory mechanism through which organisms prevent polyspermy.This process intricately involves conformational changes in the zona pellucida(ZP)proteins.The authors present a fascinating mechanism whereby post-fertilization cleavage of the ZP subunit ZP2 triggers its oligomerization,leading to crosslinking of filaments to harden the egg coat and prevent polyspermy.They also systematically analyzed the pattern of ZP filament assembly,which revealed that two protofilaments comprising type I(ZP3)and type II(ZP1/ZP2/ZP4)components interlock to form a left-handed double helix structure.These findings are immensely beneficial for understanding the specific role of the egg coat,providing a plethora of insights.
基金
supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82192874,32370916 and 82201798).
