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Updated: Aug 29, 2025

Separation of Follicular Cells and Oocytes in Ovarian Follicles of Zebrafish
Published on: April 18, 2021
MAIA, Fc receptor-like 3, supersedes JUNO as IZUMO1 receptor during human fertilization
Jana Vondrakova1, Michaela Frolikova1, Lukas Ded1
1Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Institute of Biotechnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, BIOCEV, Prumyslova 595, 252 50 Vestec, Czech Republic.
Abstract:
Gamete fusion is a critical event of mammalian fertilization. A random one-bead one-compound combinatorial peptide library represented synthetic human egg mimics and identified a previously unidentified ligand as Fc receptor-like 3, named MAIA after the mythological goddess intertwined with JUNO. This immunoglobulin super family receptor was expressed on human oolemma and played a major role during sperm-egg adhesion and fusion. MAIA forms a highly stable interaction with the known IZUMO1/JUNO sperm-egg complex, permitting specific gamete fusion. The complexity of the MAIA isotype may offer a cryptic sexual selection mechanism to avoid genetic incompatibility and achieve favorable fitness outcomes.
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