According to the oldest laws of Genetics, gemates combine randomly and that entering of the sperm inside the eggs works on the ‘survival of the fittest’ principle.
The sperm which reaches the egg at first gets the opportunity to take part in fertilization. It was considered that the eggs don’t have any consent to chose the sperms of their choice. But recent researches have proved that the fertilization process is actually the other way around.
In the past, what we all have learned in our Biology class was that the eggs meet sperms, a process of fertilization occurs and a baby is born.point 242 |
But in reality, it is not as simple as it looks.point 40 | Moreover, we all have heard that the sperms race in order to meet the egg and on their way, thousands of sperms die, half of them give up and the strongest and fastest of them all, gets the opportunity to fertilize with the egg.point 225 |
But in reality, female eggs are also powerful and can refuse to be submissive.point 65 | 1
According to new research conducted by Scott Gilbert, a developmental biologist at Swarthmore College, “egg engages in a dialog with the sperm rather than locking it down.” Thus fertilization process is not about ‘survival of the fittest’ but rather fair gameplay.
There was another research done by Dr. Joseph H. Nadeau, who claimed that sperms race doesn’t play an important role as the egg already decides beforehand that what kind of sperm it will allow entering.
Dr. Nadeau defied the old Mendel’s law and gave the following reasons behind the eggs picking the sperms:
i) According to Dr. Nadeau, whether sperm and egg will take part in the fertilization process depends on the molecule of folic acid. Metabolism of folic acid is different in both the sperms and eggs and this difference is the first factor behind the attraction between sperm and egg.
ii) When the sperms are heading towards the eggs, eggs may not be fully developed at that time. And according to Dr. Nadeau, “There’s a possibility that the egg influences this cell-division so that its genes can also be well-suited to the sperm.”
Let us know what do you think about this research results.
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