Editing Spermatozoon (section)

==Spermatozoa in other organisms==
[[Image:Plant sperm.png|thumb|Motile sperm cells of algae and seedless plants.]]
{{see also|Sperm|Female sperm storage}}

===Animals===
Fertilization relies on spermatozoa for most sexually reproductive animals.

Some species of [[Drosophilidae|fruit fly]] produce the largest known spermatozoon found in nature.<ref name="Pitnick1995">{{cite journal|last1=Pitnick|first1=S|last2=Spicer|first2=GS|last3=Markow|first3=TA|author-link3=Therese Ann Markow|title=How long is a giant sperm?|journal=Nature|date=11 May 1995|volume=375|issue=6527|pages=109|doi=10.1038/375109a0|pmid=7753164|bibcode=1995Natur.375Q.109P|s2cid=4368953|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pitnick|first1=S|last2=Markow|first2=TA|title=Large-male advantages associated with costs of sperm production in Drosophila hydei, a species with giant sperm.|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|date=27 September 1994|volume=91|issue=20|pages=9277–81|pmid=7937755|doi=10.1073/pnas.91.20.9277|pmc=44795|bibcode=1994PNAS...91.9277P|doi-access=free}}</ref>  ''[[Drosophila melanogaster]]'' produces sperm that can be up to 1.8&nbsp;mm,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cooper|first1=K.W.|editor1-last=Demerec|editor1-first=M.|title=Biology of Drosophila|date=1950|publisher=Wiley|location=New York|pages=1–61}}</ref> while its relative ''[[Drosophila bifurca]]'' produces the largest known spermatozoon, measuring over 58&nbsp;mm in length.<ref name=Pitnick1995 /> In ''Drosophila melanogaster'', the entire sperm, tail included, gets incorporated into the [[oocyte]] [[cytoplasm]], however, for ''Drosophila bifurca'' only a small portion of the tail enters the oocyte.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Pitnick | first1 = S. | last2 = Spicer | first2 = G. S. | last3 = Markow | first3 = T. A. | year = 1995 | title = How long is a giant sperm | journal = Nature | volume = 375 | issue = 6527| page = 109 | doi = 10.1038/375109a0 | pmid=7753164| bibcode = 1995Natur.375Q.109P | s2cid = 4368953 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

The wood mouse ''[[Apodemus sylvaticus]]'' possesses spermatozoa with falciform morphology. Another characteristics which makes these gametocytes unique is the presence of an apical hook on the sperm head. This hook is used to attach to the hooks or to the flagella of other spermatozoa. Aggregation is caused by these attachments and mobile trains result. These trains provide improved motility in the female reproductive tract and are a means by which fertilization is promoted.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Moore | first1 = H | last2 = Dvoráková| first2 = K | last3 = Jenkins| first3 = N| last4 = Breed| first4 = W| year = 2002 | title = Exceptional sperm cooperation in Wood Mouse | url = http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/114/1/moorhd1.pdf| journal = Nature | volume = 418 | issue = 6894| pages = 174–177 | doi=10.1038/nature00832 | pmid=12110888| bibcode = 2002Natur.418..174M | s2cid = 4413444 }}</ref>

The postmeiotic phase of mouse spermatogenesis is very sensitive to environmental [[Genotoxicity|genotoxic]] agents, because as male germ cells form mature spermatozoa they progressively lose the ability to repair DNA damage.<ref name="pmid18282746">{{cite journal |vauthors=Marchetti F, Wyrobek AJ |title=DNA repair decline during mouse spermiogenesis results in the accumulation of heritable DNA damage |journal=DNA Repair |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=572–81 |year=2008 |pmid=18282746 |doi=10.1016/j.dnarep.2007.12.011 |s2cid=1316244 |url=https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt7k61j39x/qt7k61j39x.pdf |access-date=2024-05-12 |archive-date=2018-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725012336/https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt7k61j39x/qt7k61j39x.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>  Irradiation of male mice during late spermatogenesis can induce damage that persists for at least 7 days in the fertilizing spermatozoa, and disruption of maternal DNA double-strand break repair pathways increases spermatozoa-derived chromosomal aberrations.<ref name="pmid17978187">{{cite journal |vauthors=Marchetti F, Essers J, Kanaar R, Wyrobek AJ |title=Disruption of maternal DNA repair increases sperm-derived chromosomal aberrations |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=104 |issue=45 |pages=17725–9 |year=2007 |pmid=17978187 |pmc=2077046 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0705257104 |bibcode=2007PNAS..10417725M |doi-access=free }}</ref>  Treatment of male mice with [[melphalan]], a bifunctional [[alkylation|alkylating agent]] frequently employed in chemotherapy, induces DNA lesions during meiosis that may persist in an unrepaired state as germ cells progress through DNA repair-competent phases of spermatogenic development.<ref name="pmid25567288">{{cite journal |vauthors=Marchetti F, Bishop J, Gingerich J, Wyrobek AJ |title=Meiotic interstrand DNA damage escapes paternal repair and causes chromosomal aberrations in the zygote by maternal misrepair |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=5 |pages=7689 |year=2015 |pmid=25567288 |pmc=4286742 |doi=10.1038/srep07689 |bibcode=2015NatSR...5.7689M }}</ref>  Such unrepaired DNA damages in spermatozoa, after fertilization, can lead to offspring with various abnormalities.

[[Sea urchin]]s such as ''[[Arbacia punctulata]]'' are ideal organisms to use in sperm research, they spawn large numbers of sperm into the sea, making them well-suited as [[model organism]]s for experiments.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vacquier |first1=Victor D. |title=Laboratory on sea urchin fertilization |journal=Molecular Reproduction and Development |date=August 2011 |volume=78 |issue=8 |pages=553–564 |doi=10.1002/mrd.21360 |pmid=21805525 |doi-access= |s2cid=13452188 }}</ref>

The spermatozoa of [[marsupial]]s are usually longer than those of [[placental mammal]]s.<ref name="VogelnestPortas2019">{{cite book|author1=Larry Vogelnest|author2=Timothy Portas|title=Current Therapy in Medicine of Australian Mammals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4d6VDwAAQBAJ|date=1 May 2019|publisher=Csiro Publishing|isbn=978-1-4863-0752-4}}</ref>

===Plants, algae and fungi===
The [[gametophyte]]s of [[bryophyte]]s, [[fern]]s and some [[gymnosperm]]s produce motile [[sperm]] cells, contrary to [[pollen]] grains employed in most gymnosperms and all [[angiosperm]]s. This renders sexual reproduction in the absence of [[water]] impossible, since water is a necessary medium for sperm and egg to meet. Algae and lower plant sperm cells are often multi-flagellated (see image) and thus morphologically different from animal spermatozoa.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=White-Cooper |first1=Helen |last2=Bausek |first2=Nina |date=2010-05-27 |title=Evolution and spermatogenesis |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |language=en |volume=365 |issue=1546 |pages=1465–1480 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2009.0323 |issn=0962-8436 |pmc=2871925 |pmid=20403864}}</ref>

Some algae and fungi produce non-motile sperm cells, called spermatia. In higher plants and some algae and fungi, fertilization involves the migration of the sperm nucleus through a fertilization tube (e.g. [[pollen tube]] in higher plants) to reach the egg cell.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}