BRAINCAKEThe Male Gamete
The male gamete in mammals is the sperm cell (spermatozoon). It is highly specialised to reach and fertilise the egg, and has three main regions.
Head
• A haploid nucleus containing tightly packed DNA (23 chromosomes in humans), which will combine with the egg nucleus at fertilisation.
• An acrosome, a specialised lysosome made by the Golgi apparatus, covering the front of the head. It contains digestive (hydrolytic) enzymes that are released in the acrosome reaction to digest a path through the zona pellucida around the egg.
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Key terms in this lesson
- zona pellucida
- The thick, clear glycoprotein layer surrounding the cell surface membrane of a mammalian egg cell.
More in Meiosis and Sexual Reproduction
- Down's Syndrome
- Turner's Syndrome
- Spermatogenesis
- Oogenesis
- The Female Gamete
- Gametogenesis in Plants
- Formation of Pollen
- Formation of Plant Egg Cells
All 28 lessons in Meiosis and Sexual Reproduction · All Edexcel AS-level Biology topics