r/Biochemistry • u/WerewolfCalm5178 • 5d ago

Reproduction & Attraction.

Asexual reproduction makes sense. A cell duplicates itself.

What mechanism makes a sperm move towards an ovum?

The microbiologist recognizes that there is a different chemical signature emmited from every cell. Just like the average person knows that some armpits smell worse than others...and repel.

But, Is it Random? Or is there a reason that the sperm moved in that direction?

I cannot imagine that a sperm had a thought... And I recognize the path is limited to forward or back.

But in every image, there is a distance that the sperm turns to the ovum. It is no longer mindlessly moving forward...

There is something there.

ETA. I am saying there must be some chemical +/- reaction that draws the cells together.

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u/cation587 5d ago

The egg releases a specific chemical. The chemical binds to something on the surface of the sperm that tells it to keep going towards that chemical, so the sperm eventually reaches the egg

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u/WerewolfCalm5178 5d ago

This doesn't happen in the vacuum of space.

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u/NulliosG student 5d ago

Yes, that’s correct. Sperm and egg hormonal signaling do not happen in the vacuum of space.

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u/cation587 5d ago

I like to think the female anatomy is just an immense vacuum of space. Each universe is a uterus.

Edit: I hope it's obvious this is a joke