Researchers discover the connection between sperms and eggs using artificial intelligence

Mathilde Fontez is the editor-in chief of Epsiloon , (New Window),, and she talks about the Alphafold Program, which was discovered with artificial intelligence. The Alphafold inventors , (New Window),, were recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Franceinfo: Have we cracked the secret of fertilization yet?

Mathilde Fontez – Yes, The Mystery of Life: How a Sperm and Egg Connect, Fuse and Form an Embryo : Intimate Details of the Encounter(New Window). We did not know these details before. We didn’t know the whole story.

Researchers had found two proteins in the sperm cell that appeared to be involved. Now we know that three proteins assemble when they come into contact with an egg. These proteins form a link between two gametes that allows them to fuse.

Zebrafish is a great animal to use for testing because they are a vertebrate that’s genetically very similar to humans and release their gametes into water in huge quantities. It makes the testing process easier. This is the problem with reproductive research so far. You can’t just get sperm and eggs at any time.

The artificial intelligence used here was a major contribution: Alphafold, a software that predicts all possible combinations of gamete protein configurations, found the final piece: Tmem81. The link between the spermatozoon (sperm) and the egg is the Tmem81 protein.

First, it was tested on fish gametes. Then the results were verified in mice, and finally, humans. Researchers removed Tmem81 from mice by using genetic manipulation and found that they became sterile. When they restarted production, the mice became fertile once again.

Is this a hint on how to combat infertility or not?

This discovery opens up a lot of possibilities: abnormalities found in proteins may be causing infertility. This study shows that artificial intelligence will boost fertility research. We can test reproduction by computer without needing eggs or sperm.

What fascinates the researchers the most is that they have solved the fundamental problem of fertilization. They also found out that this mechanism works the same way for all species, including mice, fish and humans.

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