Sperm-derived sperm motility-initiating substance from amphioxus Branchiostoma belcheri

The sperm of amphioxus, Branchiostoma belcheri, were immotile when excised from the testis and suspended in seawater. The sperm became motile upon spawning in natural seawater, suggesting mechanisms that triggered sperm motility during spawning. When a male amphioxus that underwent spawning was transferred to a cup containing a small amount of natural seawater, and then the seawater containing the spawned sperm was centrifuged, the supernatant caused motility initiation in the immotile sperm from the testis. This sperm motility-initiating activity was also found in the supernatant of seawater in which immotile sperm from the testis were incubated overnight. These suggest that in the amphioxus, a sperm motility-initiating substance resides in the sperm, and upon spawning, the substance is transformed into a free and active form to activate the sperm. Partial purification of the substance revealed it as a small and heat-stable substance with maximum UV absorbance at 234 nm.