Bioscientifica Proceedings

Spermatozoa fulfil a single role, namely achieving syngamy by transporting the haploid genome to their counterpart gamete, the oocyte. Simple as this may seem, it is fraught with many difficulties, especially in the face of biological processes that enable females to select spermatozoa after they have mated multiply with several males. Conversely, the female reproductive tract sequesters a privileged sperm subpopulation in the oviductal isthmus for variable periods of ti...