The trefoil domain of porcine zona pellucida: a sperm receptor?
Braun, B Cmüller, KLopes, C A PRingleb, JJewgenow, K
Trefoil domains are protein structures characterized by six cysteines, which form a three-loops, a hydrophobic groove builds a binding pocket for carbohydrates or proteins. The porcine zona pellucida protein ZP4 contains such a trefoil domain (TFD): therefore we suggested a potential sperm receptor function. Sperm-egg interaction is known to be a multistep event: thus the aim of the study was to analyze the interaction of porcine. TFD with boar sperm cells at several levels which reflect the most important steps of the fertilization cascade. We tested by Far Western blot and surface plasmon resonance whether a syntheric porcine TFD (pTFD) was able to interact with sperm cell lysates and by immunocytochemistry if it is able to bind sperm cell membranes.(AU)
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