previously unidentified protein has been discovered by scientists and is found to assist the fusion of sperm cells with eggs.
The brand new protein is known as MAIA, named after the Greek goddess of motherhood. The invention is a promising find that would prove crucial in fertility treatments.
Infertility is an issue that many encounter, and what makes this condition difficult to treat is the shortage of proper identification of underlying causes.
“Infertility is unexplained in greater than half of those that struggle to conceive naturally. What we find out about fertility in humans has been severely limited by ethical concerns and the shortage of eggs for research,” lead writer Professor Harry Moore from the University of Sheffield’s School of Biosciences, said.
In a study, published within the journal Science Advances, the research team employed an modern approach to conducting their experiment. 1000’s of beads, mimicking eggs, were incubated with sperms. Each bead has a single protein, called a peptide, attached to its surface for the sperm to latch on it.
After incubation, it was observed that only just a few beads had sperms bonded to them. The scientists then performed a series of tedious and painstaking procedures to remove unattached beads.
The beads with attached sperms were examined and these were found to contain the protein, MAIA, present on their surfaces.
The study was a collaboration of a world team of researchers spearheaded by the University of Sheffield, England.
“The ingenious artificial fertilization technique which enabled us to discover the MAIA protein won’t only allow scientists to raised understand the mechanisms of human fertility but will pave the way in which for novel ways to treat infertility and revolutionize the design of future contraceptives,” Moore said.
The gene answerable for the protein MAIA was introduced into human culture cells. The cells attracted sperms in the identical way one would expect throughout the natural fertilization process.
After the success of this study, researchers now plan to seek out a difference, if any, that exists in the way in which sperms from different individuals bind to the protein MAIA.
In line with the study’s co-author, Professor Allan Pacey from the University of Sheffield, the invention of this recent protein is crucial within the understanding of the strategy of human fertilization amongst researchers.
“It could have been almost inconceivable to find without using artificial beads to duplicate the surface of human eggs as we simply would not have been capable of get enough eggs to do the experiment. A classic case of pondering out of the box,” Pacey said.