期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2021
卷号：118
期号：34
DOI：10.1073/pnas.2109636118
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Species-specific sperm−egg interactions are essential for sexual reproduction. Broadcast spawning of marine organisms is under particularly stringent conditions, since eggs released into the water column can be exposed to multiple different sperm. Bindin isolated from the sperm acrosome results in insoluble particles that cause homospecific eggs to aggregate, whereas no aggregation occurs with heterospecific eggs. Therefore, Bindin is concluded to play a critical role in fertilization, yet its function has never been tested. Here we report that Cas9-mediated inactivation of the
bindin gene in a sea urchin results in perfectly normal-looking embryos, larvae, adults, and gametes in both males and females. What differed between the genotypes was that the
bindin
−/− sperm never fertilized an egg, functionally validating Bindin as an essential gamete interaction protein at the level of sperm–egg cell surface binding.
