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Structure and function of asterosaps, sperm-activating peptides from the jelly coat of starfish eggs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Takuya Nishigaki ,
Kazuyoshi Chiba ,
Wataru Miki  and
Motonori Hoshi
Takuya Nishigaki
Affiliation:
Department of Life Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Suntory Institute for Fundamental Research, Osaka, Japan.
Kazuyoshi Chiba
Affiliation:
Department of Life Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Suntory Institute for Fundamental Research, Osaka, Japan.
Wataru Miki
Affiliation:
Department of Life Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Suntory Institute for Fundamental Research, Osaka, Japan.
Motonori Hoshi*
Affiliation:
Department of Life Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Suntory Institute for Fundamental Research, Osaka, Japan.
*
M. Hoshi, Department of Life Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226, Japan. Telephone: +81-45-924-5720. Fax. +81-45-924-5777 e-mail: mhoshi@bio.titech.ac.jp.
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Summary

Jelly coat of starfish eggs has the capacity to activate homologous spermatozoa and induce the acrosome reaction. We have isolated 12 sperm-activating peptides (SAPs) from the egg jelly of the starfish, Asterias amurensis. Eleven SAPs were structurally identified by sequence analysis and electro-spray ionisation mass spectrometry. All of them are glutamine-rich tetratriacontapeptides with an intramolecular disulphide linkage between Cys8 and Cys32. They are much larger than sea urchin SAPs and do not show any significant sequence similarities to known proteins. Thus we have collectively named them asterosaps. The amino terminal region, where structural diversity of asterosaps is observed, is not important for their activity, whereas the disulphide linkage is essential. Asterosaps do not induce the acrosome reaction by themselves, but are able to induce the acrosome reaction in combination with an egg jelly glycoconjugate named ARIS. Furthermore, anti-asterosap rabbit antibody significantly decreased the acrosome reaction-inducing activity of the jelly solution and the activity was restored by addition of excess asterosap. These results support our hypothesis that the main physiological role of SAPs is the induction of the acrosome reaction in cooperation with two other jelly components, ARIS and Co-ARIS.

Keywords

Acrosome reactionFertilisationPeptideSperm activationStarfish egg coat
Type
Article
Information
Zygote , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , August 1996 , pp. 237 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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