{"id":85013,"date":"2022-12-05T14:58:25","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T12:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/blog\/how-do-babies-happen\/"},"modified":"2022-12-05T14:58:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T12:58:25","slug":"how-do-babies-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/how-do-babies-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"How do babies happen?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers at the Technion &#8211; Israel Institute of Technology, in collaboration with researchers at Nagoya and Tokyo Universities in Japan, have uncovered a significant new function of the mammalian sperm protein IZUMO1 that may ultimately lead to more targeted diagnoses and treatment of human fertility problems, as well as enable the development of more sophisticated forms of contraception.<\/p>\n<p>The study, published in <em>The Journal of Cell Biology<\/em>, was led by Technion researchers Professor Benjamin Podbilewicz and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Nicolas Brukman from the Technion\u2019s Faculty of Biology, and Professor Tetsuya Higashiyama and Dr. Kohdai Nakajima from the Nagoya and Tokyo universities, Japan.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_52386\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52386\" style=\"width: 279px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/1-scaled.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-52386 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/1-279x300.jpeg\" alt=\"The research group from the Technion,R-L: Prof. Benjamin Podbilewicz, Clari Valansi, Dr. Nicolas Brukman, Xiaohui Li and Katerina Flyak\" width=\"279\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-52386\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The research group from the Technion,R-L: Prof. Benjamin Podbilewicz, Clari Valansi, Dr. Nicolas Brukman, Xiaohui Li and Katerina Flyak<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The researchers found that the protein IZUMO1, which had been discovered in 2005 by Inoue and collaborators to be critical for the binding of sex cells, also plays an essential role in fusing the cells to allow the exchange of genetic material and, ultimately, the creation of the zygote. In 2017, Podbilewicz&#8217;s lab discovered the fusogenic function of a different protein responsible for the fusion of sperm and egg cells in plants.<\/p>\n<p>During mammalian fertilization, \u00a0the plasma membranes of the sex cells attach via an interaction between the sperm protein IZUMO1 and the egg protein JUNO. Once this binding has taken place, IZUMO1 works unilaterally as a fusogen to allow the \u00a0exchange and combination of the sperm\u2019s and egg\u2019s respective DNAs into a single nucleus. IZUMO1 is the first such protein to be designated as a fusogen in mammalian reproduction. \u00a0The present study was conducted in the lab, utilizing sperm and eggs from mice and kidney cells in culture.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_52387\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52387\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/2-1-scaled.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-52387 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/2-1-225x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Dr. Nicolas Brukman, postdoctoral fellow at Podbilewicz lab\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-52387\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Nicolas Brukman, postdoctoral fellow at Podbilewicz lab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Interestingly, the two functions of IZUMO1 \u2013 in binding and fusing \u2013 operate in a compartmentalized fashion in different regions of the protein, so that each function may potentially be isolated to address specific fertilization problems related to either realm, opening the door to more tailored or personalized fertility treatments and diagnosis.<\/p>\n<p>IZUMO1&#8217;s newfound property as a fusogen may also open the door to new approaches to next-generation male oral contraceptives that temporarily disrupt the sperm protein&#8217;s binding and\/or fusing abilities. This new function of IZUMO1 makes it even more suited to its name, which is taken from one of the most sacred shrines in Japan, dedicated to marriage.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_52388\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52388\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/3-6-1-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-52388 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/3-6-1-300x288.jpg\" alt=\"A kidney cell expressing JUNO and a protein that binds DNA (green) was mixed with mouse sperm cells expressing IZUMO1 (red) and their DNA is stained in blue. The pink arrowhead points a sperm that is bound but did not fuse and the white arrowhead points a sperm fused to the cell and therefore is stained in green\" width=\"300\" height=\"288\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-52388\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A kidney cell expressing JUNO and a protein that binds DNA (green) was mixed with mouse sperm cells expressing IZUMO1 (red) and their DNA is stained in blue. The pink arrowhead points a sperm that is bound but did not fuse and the white arrowhead points a sperm fused to the cell and therefore is stained in green<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_52389\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52389\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/4-4-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-52389 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/4-4-300x288.jpg\" alt=\"Kidney cells expressing IZUMO1 and a fluorescent protein on the nucleus (magenta) are bound to a mouse oocyte expressing a fluorescent protein on the membrane (green) and a blue staining to see the DNA.\" width=\"300\" height=\"288\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-52389\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kidney cells expressing IZUMO1 and a fluorescent protein on the nucleus (magenta) are bound to a mouse oocyte expressing a fluorescent protein on the membrane (green) and a blue staining to see the DNA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rupress.org\/jcb\/article\/222\/2\/e202207147\/213693\/A-novel-function-for-the-sperm-adhesion-protein\">Click here<\/a> for the paper in <em>The Journal of Cell Biolog<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers at the Technion &#8211; Israel Institute of Technology, in collaboration with researchers at Nagoya and Tokyo Universities in Japan, have uncovered a significant new function of the mammalian sperm protein IZUMO1 that may ultimately lead to more targeted diagnoses and treatment of human fertility problems, as well as enable the development of more sophisticated&hellip; <a class=\"continue\" href=\"https:\/\/www.technion.ac.il\/en\/blog\/how-do-babies-happen\/\">Continue Reading<span> How do babies happen?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How do babies happen? 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