A investigation German revealed that there are sperm that poison others and thus increase their chances of overcoming them on their way to the ovum. It is literally a race for the lifetime. In this quest to understand more about the mechanism of male reproductive cells, a team of scientists from the University of Berlin demonstrated in mice that the ability of sperm to move progressively depends on a protein that improves their competitiveness, while when it has little presence can cause infertility. A segment of DNA breaks the standard rules of genetic inheritance and grants a success rate of up to 99% to the sperm that contain it.
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The genetic factor called “t-haplotype” promotes the successful fertilization of the sperm that carry it. Thus, those who contain it are more progressive and advance faster than their “normal” peers.
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The specialists specified that most of the cells that progressed little in their trajectories were genetically “normal”, while the straight-moving sperm contained the aforementioned characteristic. “Sperm with the t-haplotype manage to deactivate sperm without it. The trick is that it poisons everyone but at the same time, it produces an antidote that acts only on the ‘t’ and protects them,” explained Bernhard Herrmann, director of the Institute. Max Planck of Molecular Genetics.
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In addition, the experts linked the motility differences to the RAC1 molecule, a switch that transmits signals from outside the cell to the inside, activating other proteins. For example, it participates in the management of white blood cells or cancer cells.
Those with the t-haglotype progress more than normals.
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