Courtesy of Richard Lockett
Researchers have identified a key enzyme in sea urchin egg fertilization. Working on two species of urchins,
"This respiratory burst has been a puzzle since the beginning of the century," says Victor Vacquier from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. While other cells that produce peroxide – such as neutrophils – usually do not survive this synthesis, the embryo remains immune to peroxidase. Until now, how this protection occurs remained unclear. Wessel's group used drug inhibitors of the neutrophil respiratory burst complex. "When ...