Abstract

Biology of Fertilization, Volume 1: Model Systems and Oogenesis is the first in a three-volume series that gathers various lines of research about reproduction in general and fertilization in particular. Knowledge about cell biology, immunobiology, biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular genetics has progressed significantly beyond our understanding of some aspects of fertilization. Components of these constitute ""model systems."" The present volume includes reviews of such systems, some relatively simple model systems in lower organisms, sex-determining mechanisms, and oogenesis.
The book contains 12 chapters organized into two sections. Section I includes studies on evolution, reproductive success, and immortality of the germ line; the structures and mechanisms involved in fertilization problems; and fertilization in Paramecium. Section II on oogenesis includes studies on gamete differentiation; sex-determining role of the H-Y antigen in mammals and non-mammals; the mechanism of starfish oocyte maturation; meiotic arrest in animal oocytes; and the mitotic and meiotic aspects of the mammalian germ cell life cycle.