New protein named after Greek deity MAIA could help solve infertility mystery
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Loading... - Samira Hicham
- 15 Sep 2022
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Scientists at the University of Sheffield, UK, have discovered the protein responsible for facilitating fertilisation by drawing sperm into the egg.
The findings, published in Science Advances, pave the way to advances in infertility treatment, researchers say.
The international team of researchers named the protein after Greek deity Maia as a reference to motherhood. Maia, the word for midwife in modern Greek, was in Greek mythology the daughter of Atlas and Pleione the Oceanid, the oldest of the seven Pleiades and mother of Hermes by Zeus.
For the tests that led to the discovery, artificial eggs were created using synthetic microbeads. Each of the beads had a different protein segment, peptide, on it so that the sperm could bond with the bead.
When human sperm was incubated with the beads, the team found that it was one particular protein, MAIA, that was attached to the surface of the beads that had sperm bound to them.
The gene that creates the MAIA protein in the body was also identified and inserted into human cells, which then appeared to react with the sperm in the same way as would happen in natural fertilisation. Read More...
