Fuck Yeah Gametes

May 16 2012 ∞

animalswholoveanimals:

Some hermaphroditic Macrostomum lignano flatworms copulate, then suck out unwanted sperm. These worms’ sperm have bristles to help them stay in place. The sperm of related worms, which don’t suck out sperm, have no bristles. In fact, the bristles seem to have disappeared twice, independently, when worms adopted the alternative mating strategy. This led researchers to conclude that sex shapes sperm, which are the most diverse type of animal cell.

(‘Worm Porn’ Sheds Light on Evolution of Sperm)

Some hermaphroditic Macrostomum lignano flatworms copulate, then suck out unwanted sperm. These worms’ sperm have bristles to help them stay in place. The sperm of related worms, which don’t suck out sperm, have no bristles. In fact, the bristles seem to have disappeared twice, independently, when worms adopted the alternative mating strategy. This led researchers to conclude that sex shapes sperm, which are the most diverse type of animal cell.

(‘Worm Porn’ Sheds Light on Evolution of Sperm)

15 notes

May 15 2012 ∞

Gene Involved in Sperm-To-Egg Binding Is Key to Fertility in Mammals

[Researchers] found that when the gene was ‘switched off’ in male mice, less than three per cent of females’ eggs were fertilised compared to more than 80 per cent in mice when the gene was left switched on.

It is the first time that a gene of this type has been linked to fertility.

5 notes

Nov 18 2011 ∞

ohscience:

This is a light micrograph of an in vitro fertilization. Several sperm cells are competing to penetrate the egg in order for a successful conception.

Photo is by: Science3point0.com from Flickr

Please visit heythereuniverse for more great pictures!

(submission from luutopia)

(via m4g3)

364 notes

Nov 01 2011 ∞

Snake stores sperm 5 years, gives birth

A rare case of a snake giving birth after being in captivity for five years has led geneticists to confirm for the first time that reptiles can store sperm for several years.

According to New Scientist magazine, the female rattlesnake was in a private collection in Florida and had no contact with other snakes during that time. But late last year, it gave birth to 19 snakelets.

To study the phenomenon, Warren Booth of North Carolina State University in Raleigh took DNA samples from the mother and her young.

Booth studies “virgin birth,” in which a female produces young without any contribution from a male.

But in this case the snakelets carried genes that their mother didn’t, so she must have mated before being captured and stored the sperm, he concluded.

Booth told New Scientist he suspects other reptiles can store sperm even longer.

“How long is anyone’s guess,” he said.

It’s becoming clear that snakes have unconventional ways of reproducing, including virgin birth and long-term sperm storage, added William Holt of the Institute of Zoology in London, England, though so far no one knows how they do it.

(source)

27 notes

Oct 22 2011 ∞

Sperm cells created from female embryo

Sperm cells have been created from a “female” human embryo in a remarkable breakthrough that suggests it may be possible for couples who both produce eggs to have their own biological children.

British scientists who had already coaxed “male” bone marrow cells to develop into primitive sperm cells have now repeated the feat with “female” embryonic stem cells.

The University of Newcastle team that has achieved the feat is now applying for permission to turn the bone marrow of a “female” into sperm which, if successful, would make the method more practical than with embryonic cells.

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