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Spokes and barrels tune the asymmetric beating of mammalian sperm flagella

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Sperm flagella of highly divergent eukaryotic species share an architectural plan. Despite their ostensible ultrastructural similarities, mammalian sperm flagella beat with an asymmetric waveform, in contrast to the symmetrical beats of other eukaryotic flagella. Structural findings elucidate the molecular basis for this evolutionary divergence.

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Fig. 1: Human sperm axoneme structure.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks Z. Chen for critical reading of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biochemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Girish Ram Mali

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  1. Girish Ram Mali
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Correspondence to Girish Ram Mali.

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Mali, G.R. Spokes and barrels tune the asymmetric beating of mammalian sperm flagella. Nat Struct Mol Biol 30, 236–238 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-023-00938-4

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