Species Human Entrez 284359 | Human Mouse Ensembl ENSG00000182264 | |
Aliases IZUMO1, IZUMO, OBF, izumo sperm-egg fusion 1 External IDs MGI: 1920706 HomoloGene: 77701 GeneCards: IZUMO1 | ||
Izumo sperm-egg fusion 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the IZUMO1 gene.
Function
The sperm-specific protein Izumo, named for a Japanese shrine dedicated to marriage, is essential for sperm-egg plasma membrane binding and fusion.
Studies have shown that male Izumo knockout mice are sterile because their sperm are unable to fuse to the oocyte membrane.[1] Izumo -/- mice produced morphologically normal sperm that were able to penetrate the zona pellucida, but could not fuse with to the eggs. In-vitro human experiments have also been conducted, suggesting that Izumo is required for human gamete fusion. [1]
Through the use of Western Blot analyses, it has been shown that Izumo is only expressed in the testis and is found on mature spermatozoa. Izumo-1 located on mature spermatozoa that have undergone capacitation binds to its receptor Juno, which is located on the oolemma of eggs.