Seminal plasma and sperm proteome of ring-tailed coatis (Nasua nasua, Linnaeus, 1766)

Abstract

Ring-tailed coati is listed as a species of least concern in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, however, there has been a sharp decline in their population. The present study was conducted to evaluate the major proteins of both seminal plasma and sperm in ring-tailed coatis. Semen sample was collected from three adult coatis and evaluated for their morphological characteristics. Further, the sample was centrifuged to separate spermatozoa from seminal plasma, and then stored in liquid nitrogen. The seminal plasma and sperm proteins were subjected to one-dimensional (1-D) sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and identified by mass spectrometry. Gene ontology and protein networks were analyzed using bioinformatics tools. Based on sperm concentration and average protein content of the semen, the concentration of protein/spermatozoon was found to be 104.69 ± 44.43 μg. The analysis of SDS-PAGE gels showed 20.3 ± 3.1 and 17 ± 2 protein bands/lane for seminal plasma and sperm, respectively. In-gel protein digestion and peptide analysis by mass spectrometry revealed 238 and 246 proteins in the seminal plasma and sperm, respectively. The gene ontology analysis revealed that the proteins of seminal plasma mainly participated in cellular (35%) and regulatory (21%) processes. According to their cellular localization, seminal plasma proteins were categorized as structural (18%), extracellular (17%), and nuclear (14%) proteins with molecular functions, such as catalytic activity (43%) and binding (43%). The sperm proteins were also involved in cellular (38%) and regulatory (23%) processes, and mainly categorized as extracellular (17%), nuclear (13%), and cytoplasmic (10%) proteins. The major molecular functions of the sperm proteins were catalytic activity (44%) and binding (42%). These results indicated that the seminal plasma of ring-tailed coati has an array of proteins that can potentially modulate several sperm functions, from sperm protection to oocyte binding. However, further studies are necessary to interpret the roles of these major seminal plasma proteins in coatis.

The characteristics of proteome and metabolome associated with contrasting sperm motility in goat seminal plasma

“…Here, it should be noted that some proteins are simultaneously presented in sperm and seminal plasma. In previous studies, the similar phenomenon was also observed 24 – 26 . Some major proteins in sheep seminal plasma, such as ram seminal vesicle protein 14 and bodhesin 2, also appeared in plasma membrane 25 .…”

“…Some major proteins in sheep seminal plasma, such as ram seminal vesicle protein 14 and bodhesin 2, also appeared in plasma membrane 25 . In ring-tailed coatis, some proteins identified in sperm also appeared in their corresponding seminal plasma 24 . Furthermore, lots of proteins identified in human seminal plasma (70%) are also a part of sperm proteome 26 .…”

Seminal plasma proteins and metabolites: effects on sperm function and potential as fertility markers

“…And both cleavage rates and blastocyst growth were similar after ejaculated sperm were incubated with heparin, BSP-1+heparin or BSP-1. With epididymal sperm, the best results or capacitation and blastocyst growth were obtained with BSP-1, when compared to heparin and heparin+BSP-1 (Rodriguez- Villamil et al, 2018; Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza, Brazil; unpublished data). Thus, BSP-1 is a potent capacitating factor for bovine sperm and it increases fertilization rates, with no dependence on heparin.…”

“…High levels of clusterin are associated with advanced physiopathological states, such as kidney diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, artheriosclerosis, heart attack and cancer ( Wehrli et al ., 2001 ; Trougakos et al ., 2002 ; Pucci et al ., 2004 ; Calero et al ., 2005 ). We have characterized the seminal plasma proteome of several domestic and wild species, including bulls ( Moura et al ., 2007a ; Rego et al ., 2014 , 2016 ; Menezes et al ., 2017 ), rams ( Souza et al ., 2012 ), boars ( González-Cadavid et al ., 2014 ), peccaries ( Santos et al ., 2014 ), dogs ( Aquino-Cortez et al ., 2017 ) and coatis ( Silva et al ., 2018 ), among others. Clusterin is present in the semen of all these species, in moderate to high concentrations.…”

Deactivation of the JNK Pathway by GSTP1 Is Essential to Maintain Sperm Functionality

“…The first evidence of GST activity in mammalian sperm dates back to 1978 in murine species (Mukhtar et al, 1978), and the first report confirming the presence of the Pi class of GSTs (GSTP1) was published in 1998 in goat sperm . Since then, several proteomic profiling studies have identified GSTP1 in the sperm cells of a wide range of mammalian species, including humans (Wang et al, 2013), mice (Vicens et al, 2017), pigs (Pérez-Patino et al, 2019), cattle (Peddinti et al, 2008), and coatis (Rodrigues-Silva et al, 2018). In somatic cells, the main well-defined function of GSTP1 is cell signaling regulation via inhibition of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)-C-Jun pathway (Adler et al, 1999;Wang et al, 2001;Turella et al, 2005).…”