Under female control: egg defence, adaptive sex allocation, and sperm selection

性冲突在配子层面普遍存在，雌性可能通过调节精子进入的受精障碍来应对精子竞争。令人惊讶的是，女性对受精的控制程度尚不清楚，女性操纵受精事件的具体机制也知之甚少。这个项目将结合创新性的研究，利用整个生物体和体外受精技术来分离研究它们的配子。该项目在配子相互作用方面提供了开创性的工作，这是以前没有被描述过的。它将扩展关于支撑成功哺乳动物受精的机制的知识，并为不孕症的病因提供关键的见解。

Sexual conflict is prevalent at the gametic level, and females may respond to sperm competition via fertilisation barriers that mediate sperm entry. Surprisingly, the extent of female control over fertilisation is unknown, and the specific mechanisms that females utilise to manipulate fertilisation events are poorly understood. This project will combine innovative investigations that utilise whole organisms and in vitro fertilisation technology to study their gametes in isolation. The project offers pioneering work on gametic interactions that have not previously been characterised. It will extend knowledge on the mechanisms that underpin successful mammalian fertilisation and provide critical insight into the etiology of infertility.