Turn on cookies to sign in
Signing in saves your progress to your Curie account. We can only do that with cookies on — turn them on to continue.
The proteins that guide egg and sperm formation look similar across animals — but they don't always work the same way. A new Stowers Institute study found that sea anemones share most of the human meiosis toolkit, yet some proteins play entirely different roles, including a surprising sex-specific function. The findings could reshape our understanding of infertility and reproductive biology.
The molecular machinery behind meiosis — the process that creates eggs and sperm — is more conserved across the animal kingdom than scientists expected, but also far more flexible. A new study from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, published in Science Advances, found that sea anemones (Nematostella) share 8 of the 10 proteins that form the synaptonemal complex, a ladder-like structure that pairs chromosomes during meiosis in humans. But when researchers tested what those proteins actually do, the similarities started to unravel.
Disabling two key proteins — sycp1 and syce2 — caused female sterility in sea anemones, while males with the same mutations remained fertile. Loss of syce2 also disrupted chromosome stabilization only in females, revealing an unexpected sex-specific role. These findings challenge the assumption that structurally similar proteins perform identical functions across species.
Key Takeaways:
Why it matters: Meiosis errors in humans can cause infertility, miscarriage, and birth defects. By establishing sea anemones as a new research model, scientists may be able to observe chromosome behavior in living tissue — opening doors to discoveries that traditional models like mice or fruit flies can't easily provide.
