![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Avidor-Reiss-and-Fishman-in-the-lab-by-Dan.jpg\")
<\/a>Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss and Lilli Fishman worked on the study titled \u201cA Novel Atypical Sperm Centriole is Functional During Human Fertilization,\u201d which was published in Nature Communications.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cThis research is significant because abnormalities in the formation and function of the atypical centriole may be the root of infertility of unknown cause in couples who have no treatment options available to them,\u201d said Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss, professor in the UT Department of Biological Sciences. \u201cIt also may have a role in early pregnancy loss and embryo development defects.\u201d<\/p>\n
The centriole is the only essential cellular structure contributed solely by the father. It is the origin of all of the centrioles in the trillions of cells that make up the adult human body. Centrioles are essential for building the cell\u2019s antennae, known as cilia, and cytoskeleton, as well as completing accurate cell division.<\/p>\n
A zygote, or fertilized egg cell, needs two centrioles to start life. It was previously thought that sperm provides a single centriole to the egg and then duplicates itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince the mother\u2019s egg does not provide centrioles, and the father\u2019s sperm possesses only one recognizable centriole, we wanted to know where the second centriole in zygotes comes from,\u201d Avidor-Reiss said. \u201cWe found the previously elusive centriole using cutting-edge techniques and microscopes. It was overlooked in the past because it\u2019s completely different from the known centriole in terms of structure and protein composition.\u201d<\/p>\n
The atypical centriole contains a small core set of proteins needed for the known sperm centriole to form a fully functional centriole after fertilization in the zygote using the egg\u2019s proteins.<\/p>\n
This discovery may provide new avenues for diagnostics and therapeutic strategies for male infertility and insights into early embryo developmental defects, according to the research titled \u201cA Novel Atypical Sperm Centriole is Functional During Human Fertilization\u201d that was published June 7 in Nature Communications.<\/p>\n
In addition to human sperm, Avidor-Reiss and his research team studied the sperm of flies, beetles and cattle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole idea for this study started with the fly,\u201d said Lilli Fishman, UT PhD candidate, who is being honored with the 2018 Lalor Foundation Merit Award from the Society for the Study of Reproduction for her work on the project. \u201cBasic fly research indicated the misconception in sperm structure. It has been incredible to be part of the ensuing process that included incredible scientists from four states and two countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
The leading-edge techniques and microscopes used on this research include super-resolution microscopy; electron microscopy with high-pressure freezing; and correlative light and electron microscopy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe super-resolution microscopy was critical for this discovery,\u201d Avidor-Reiss said. \u201cThe technology allows you to see proteins at the highest resolution.\u201d
\nThe University of Toronto, National Cancer Institute, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pittsburgh also contributed to the research.<\/p>\n
Avidor-Reiss and his team are taking this research to the clinical level.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working with the Urology Department at The University of Toledo Medical Center to study the clinical implications of the atypical centriole to figure out if it\u2019s associated with infertility and what kind of infertility,\u201d Avidor-Reiss said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. Tomer Avidor-Reiss and Lilli Fishman worked on research that uncovered a sperm structure that may provide new avenues for diagnostics and therapeutic strategies for male infertility and insights into early embryo developmental defects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":812,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,1,3,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50139"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50139"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64238,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50139\/revisions\/64238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}