由雪城大学、锡耶纳大学和塞格德大学的研究人员组成的团队发现，精子受精的方式可能与长期以来的传统认知大不相同[1]。这项发表在《自然通讯》期刊上的研究表明，在包括昆虫、蜘蛛、螃蟹和蜈蚣在内的节肢动物中，精子广泛存在合作现象，通过被称为精子相关物质的结构组织成协调的团队，而非单独竞争[1]。
研究团队跨越过去600百万年的进化历史进行了分析，发现精子合作策略在节肢动物的不同分支中反复出现和消失[1]。雪城大学的R. Antonio Gomez指出，"进化在不同的节肢动物群体中一次次重复进行了相同的实验"[1]。这一发现颠覆了对精子受精过程的传统理解——受精可能不仅依赖于精子间的竞争，还取决于精子的团队合作[1]。研究还表明，精子是进化速度最快的细胞类型[1]。
Researchers from Syracuse University, the University of Siena in Italy, and the University of Szeged in Hungary have discovered that sperm cooperation is widespread among arthropods, challenging the traditional view that fertilization is purely a competitive race between individual sperm cells [1]. The team's findings, published in Nature Communications in 2026, reveal that sperm can coordinate to form organized teams rather than competing independently, suggesting that successful fertilization may depend on collaborative strategies as much as individual performance [1].
The research focused on sperm conjugation, a phenomenon in which sperm organize into coordinated team structures through sperm-associated materials (SAM) [1]. The study examined arthropods including insects, spiders, crabs, and centipedes, tracing these cooperative behaviors across an evolutionary timespan of 600 million years [1]. According to R. Antonio Gomez, one of the researchers, "Evolution has effectively run the same experiment over and over again across different groups of arthropods," indicating that sperm cooperation strategies have repeatedly evolved and disappeared throughout arthropod diversification [1]. Scott Pitnick noted that "Sperm are the most rapidly evolving cell type," underscoring the dynamic nature of reproductive cell evolution [1].
The findings open potential applications in human fertility research and pest management strategies, such as controlling the spotted lanternfly [1].