Editorial: Metabolic regulation of gamete function in health and disease

Abstract

Fertilization is a key process in which two different cell types, sperm and eggs, interactand fuse to merge their haploid genomes and initiate the development of a new individual.Sperm and eggs are highly differentiated cells, and each gamete type fulfills its specificfunction in different ways. Whereas sperm must leave the body in which they wereproduced to swim until they meet the female gamete, oocytes must prepare to support theearly stages of embryonic development. In both cases, the correct functionality of eachgamete could be influenced not only by its own metabolic activity but also by thereproductive and systemic metabolic environment of the individual. In view of this, thegoal of this Research Topic was to understand how the systemic or cellular metabolicnetworks can influence the male and female reproductive function.