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Synthesis and ordering of the envelope of pronuclei. Formation and organization of an aster composed of microtubule arrays originating from the sperm basal body and extending virtually to the egg periphery. The sperm aster ensures the appropriate positioning of the male and female pronuclei. The initial contact step made between the sperm plasma membrane and outer layer of the egg during fertilization. The gradual disintegration of the sperm plasma membrane following insemination. This process is seen in Drosophila after entry of the entire sperm, surrounded by its plasma membrane, into the egg. A biological process that directly contributes to the process of producing new individuals by one or two organisms. The new individuals inherit some proportion of their genetic material from the parent or parents. The directed movement of the male and female pronuclei towards each other prior to their fusion. The rotation of centrosomes and associated pronuclei in one-cell embryos such as those of Caenorhabditis elegans, occurring as a transition between pronuclear migration and pronuclear fusion. The phase of elevated metabolic activity, during which oxygen consumption increases, that occurs at fertilization. An enhanced uptake of oxygen leads to the production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide anions and hydroxyl radicals. Capacitation, a necessary prerequisite event to successful fertilization, can be induced by reactive oxygen species in vitro; hydrogen peroxide is used as an extracellular oxidant to cross-link the protective surface envelopes. The union of male and female gametes to form a zygote. The union of gametes of opposite sexes during the process of sexual reproduction to form a zygote. It involves the fusion of the gametic nuclei (karyogamy) and cytoplasm (plasmogamy). The regular alternation, in the life cycle of haplontic, diplontic and diplohaplontic organisms, of meiosis and fertilization which provides for the production offspring. In diplontic organisms there is a life cycle in which the products of meiosis behave directly as gametes, fusing to form a zygote from which the diploid, or sexually reproductive polyploid, adult organism will develop. In diplohaplontic organisms a haploid phase (gametophyte) exists in the life cycle between meiosis and fertilization (e.g. higher plants, many algae and Fungi); the products of meiosis are spores that develop as haploid individuals from which haploid gametes develop to form a diploid zygote; diplohaplontic organisms show an alternation of haploid and diploid generations. In haplontic organisms meiosis occurs in the zygote, giving rise to four haploid cells (e.g. many algae and protozoa), only the zygote is diploid and this may form a resistant spore, tiding organisms over hard times. The process whereby the egg becomes metabolically active, initiates protein and DNA synthesis and undergoes structural changes to its cortex and/or cytoplasm. The binding and fusion of a sperm, having penetrated the zona pellucida, with the plasma membrane of the oocyte. Binding occurs at the posterior (post-acrosomal) region of the sperm head. The merging of two pronuclei in a fertilized egg to fuse and produce a single zygotic genome. The infiltration by sperm of the zona pellucida to reach the oocyte. The process involves digestive enzymes from a modified lysosome called the acrosome, situated at the head of the sperm. The discharge, by sperm, of a single, anterior secretory granule following the sperm's attachment to the zona pellucida surrounding the oocyte. The process begins with the fusion of the outer acrosomal membrane with the sperm plasma membrane and ends with the exocytosis of the acrosomal contents into the egg. Assembly of the haploid nucleus of the unfertilized egg. Penetration of the egg shell through the micropyle (a specialized anterior opening in the vitelline envelope) and entry of the entire sperm, including the surrounding plasma membrane and the sperm tail, into the egg cytoplasm. This step in fertilization is seen in Drosophila, where a plasma membrane fusion event between the sperm and the egg does not occur. The conversion at fertilization of the inactive sperm nucleus into a male pronucleus with its chromosomes processed for the first zygotic division.

View Gene Ontology (GO) Term

GO TERM SUMMARY

Name: single fertilization
Acc: GO:0007338
Aspect: Biological Process
Desc: The union of male and female gametes to form a zygote.
Synonyms:
  • zygote biosynthesis
  • zygote formation
Proteins in PDR annotated with:
   This term: 32 [Search]
   Term or descendants: 186 [Search]


[geneontology.org]
INTERACTIVE GO GRAPH

GO:0007338 - single fertilization (interactive image map)

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