reproductive system
N |
• male fertility remained unaffected
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• only two newborn pups were obtained from 1 of 16 matings using mutant females
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• sperm-egg binding was normal, but sperm-egg fusion was almost entirely inhibited in mutant eggs
• intracellular Ca2+ oscillations, which signal fertilization, were absent in almost all mutant eggs: no Ca2+ oscillation occurred within 90 min after sperm attachment
• in rare instances, the first Ca2+ transient occurred more than 30 min after sperm attachment (versus within 30 min in most wild-type eggs)
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