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1 November 2010 Ultrastructure, Composition, and Possible Roles of the Egg Coats in Haliotis asinina
Worawit Suphamungmee, Piyachat Chansela, Wattana Weerachatyanukul, Tanes Poomtong, Rapeepun Vanichviriyakit, Prasert Sobhon
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Abstract

Spawned eggs of a tropical abalone Haliotis asinina have 2 protective barriers: the egg jelly coat and the vitelline envelope. At the electron microscopic level, the egg jelly is composed of a network of large fibers (40–50 nm thick) cross-linked by smaller fibers (15–20 nm thick), whereas the vitelline envelope is a thin, tough sheet containing pores that might be channels for sperm contact and entry. Electrophoretically, the egg jelly contains 2 major glycoproteins at 107 kDa and 178 kDa, whereas the vitelline envelope contains a broad spectrum of protein bands ranging from 15–200 kDa, which also includes the corresponding egg jelly protein bands. Glycoproteins of egg jelly and vitelline envelope exhibit strong cross-reactivities, and they appear in late oocytes (Oc4, Oc5). Glucose is the major sugar composition of both egg jelly and vitelline envelope glycoproteins, whereas minor proportions of arabinose, fructose, galactose, and fucose are present in both the egg jelly and vitelline envelope. Our findings suggest that a sperm acrosome reaction could be induced by isolated vitelline envelope glycoproteins, whereas acceleration of sperm motility could be stimulated by egg jelly glycoproteins.

Worawit Suphamungmee, Piyachat Chansela, Wattana Weerachatyanukul, Tanes Poomtong, Rapeepun Vanichviriyakit, and Prasert Sobhon "Ultrastructure, Composition, and Possible Roles of the Egg Coats in Haliotis asinina," Journal of Shellfish Research 29(3), 687-697, (1 November 2010). https://doi.org/10.2983/035.029.0320
Published: 1 November 2010
KEYWORDS
Abalone
acrosome reaction
egg jelly coat
Haliotis asinina
motility
vitelline envelope
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