Abstract
Prior to fertilization, spermatozoa of many animals and plants show chemotactic behavior toward eggs. Chemotactic behavior was first described in ferns (1), and their attractant was identified as the bimalate ion (2). In animals, sperm chemotaxis to the egg was first observed in the hydrozoan Spirocodon saltatrix (3) and is now widely recognized in all species from cnidarians to human (for reviews, see refs. 4–6). Spermatozoa of the ascidians Ciona intestinalis and Ciona savignyi were immotile or slightly motile when they were suspended in seawater, and if an unfertilized egg was placed in the sperm suspension, sperm near the egg were intensely activated and then showed chemotactic behavior toward the egg (7– 9). Egg seawater (ESW) that is a supernatant of seawater incubated with the ascidian egg has both sperm-activating and sperm-attracting activities, indicating that the ascidian egg releases some sperm-activating and sperm-attracting factors around the egg (9,10). The release of the attractant from the egg seems to stop after fertilization (9).
Published Version
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