Researchers have made a major breakthrough in understanding how fertilization occurs between the sperm and egg during conception, according to a new study published in the journal Science.
The research identifies the sugar molecule that makes the outer coat of the egg ‘sticky’, which is vital for enabling the sperm and egg to bind together. Researchers across the world have been trying to understand what performs this task for over thirty years.
The international team, from the University of Missouri, the University of Hong Kong, Academia Sinica in Taiwan and Imperial College London, discovered that the sugar chain known as the sialyl-lewis-x sequence (SLeX) is highly abundant on the surface of the human egg.
"This exciting research is providing the first insights into the molecular events occurring at the very beginning of human life,” said British professor Anne Dell. “The details we’ve discovered here fill in a huge gap in our knowledge of fertility and we hope they will ultimately help many of those people who currently cannot conceive.”
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