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The zona pellucida is a translucent matrix of cross-linked glycoprotein filaments that surrounds the mammalian oocyte and is 6.5–20 μm thick depending on the species. Its formation, which depends on a conserved zona pellucida-like (ZP) module that mediates the polymerization of egg coat components, [2] is critical to successful fertilization. [3]
The lineage of germ cells is called the germline. Germ cell specification begins during cleavage in many animals or in the epiblast during gastrulation in birds and mammals. After transport, involving passive movements and active migration, germ cells arrive at the developing gonads.
A gamete (/ ˈ ɡ æ m iː t /; from Ancient Greek γαμετή (gametḗ) 'wife', ultimately from Ancient Greek γάμος (gámos) 'marriage') is a haploid cell that fuses with another haploid cell during fertilization in organisms that reproduce sexually. [1] Gametes are an organism's reproductive cells, also referred to as sex cells. [2]
Sperm cells cannot divide and have a limited lifespan, but after fusion with egg cells during fertilization, a new organism begins developing, starting as a totipotent zygote. The human sperm cell is haploid, so that its 23 chromosomes can join the 23 chromosomes of the female egg to form a diploid cell with 46 paired chromosomes.
Sexual reproduction typically requires the sexual interaction of two specialized reproductive cells, called gametes, which contain half the number of chromosomes of normal cells and are created by meiosis, with typically a male fertilizing a female of the same species to create a fertilized zygote. This produces offspring organisms whose ...
This process is called childbirth. The ova, which are the female sex cells, are much larger than the spermatozoon and are normally formed within the ovaries of the female fetus before birth. They are mostly fixed in location within the ovary until their transit to the uterus, and contain nutrients for the later zygote and embryo .
Spermatocytogenesis is the male form of gametocytogenesis and involves stem cells dividing to replace themselves and to produce a population of cells destined to become mature sperm. The stem cells involved are called spermatogonia and are a specific type of stem cell known as gametogonia .
Spermatogenesis is the process by which haploid spermatozoa develop from germ cells in the seminiferous tubules of the testicle. This process starts with the mitotic division of the stem cells located close to the basement membrane of the tubules. [1] These cells are called spermatogonial stem cells. The mitotic division of these produces two ...