Normally Juno sperm receptor is tethered to the egg surface

Normally, Juno (sperm receptor) is tethered to the egg surface through a structure called a GPI anchor. To attach a protein via a GPI anchor, the cell recognizes a specific sequence in the protein, and attaches GPI to it. GPI is embedded in the plasma membrane. Assume that woman X has a mutation that abolishes the recognition sequence. What would be the result of trying to fertilize woman X\'s eggs in a dish, by adding sperm to them? Explain your answer. What would be the result of trying to fertilize woman X\'s eggs by intracytoplasmic sperm injection? Explain your answer.

Solution

1.As in case of woman there is a mutation that abolishes the recognition sequence so JUNO receptor wll not be able to get attached to the egg surface via GPI anchor.

   As a result if we try to fertilize the womans egg by adding sperm in a dish , due to mutation in recognition sequence the sperm receptor wll be unable to attach to the egg surface ,and for this reason the egg will not be fertilized.

2. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection is a procedure where single sperm is injected directly into the egg.Here surface receptors are totally bypassed.

As a result if we try to fertilize womans egg by intracytoplasmic sperm injection then as sperm receptors plays no role in this case so the egg will be fertilized by the sperm resulting in the formation of zygote