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

Abstract

Sperm motility is an index tightly associated with male fertility. A close relationship between seminal plasma and sperm motility has been confirmed. This study was to assess the protein and metabolite profiles of seminal plasma obtained from adult goats with high or low sperm motility using the proteomic and metabolomic strategies. In total, 2098 proteins were found. 449 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified, and 175 DEPs were enriched in the high motility group. The obtained DEPs primarily exist in cytoplasma and extra-cellular portion. The Gene Ontology enrichment analysis demonstrated the main functional roles of these DEPs in regulating biological process, metabolic process of organic substances, cellular-metabolic process, primary-metabolic process, metabolic process of nitrogen compounds, etc. Additionally, the Kyoto-Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis revealed that these DEPs were primarily involved in phosphatidylinositol signaling system, salivary secretion, proteasome, apoptosis, mitophagy-animal, etc. Aided by the parallel reaction monitoring technology, the abundance changing pattern of 19 selected DEPs was consistent with that of the corresponding proteins obtained by TMT. A total of 4603 metabolites were identified in seminal plasma. 1857 differential metabolites were found between the high motility group and the low motility group, and 999 metabolites were up-regulated in the high motility group. The KEGG analysis demonstrated the primary involvement of the differential metabolites in metabolic and synthetic activities. In conclusion, we first established the proteome and metabolome databank of goat seminal plasma, detecting some proteins and metabolites which may affect sperm motility. This study will be valuable for understanding mechanisms leading to poor sperm motility.

Fractionated Seminal Plasma of Boar Ejaculates Analyzed by LC–MS/MS: Its Effects on Post-Thaw Semen Quality

“…A possible reason for such phenomenon could be to the interactions of these proteins with epididymal fluids during maturation and at ejaculation. Evidence has shown that a wide variety of sperm proteins are expressed in high levels in the bovine, goat, boar, and canine SP [11,12,26,43]. It was suggested that proteins occurring in both sperm and SP proteome could be due to non-specific aggregation of spermatozoa and SP proteins or might indicate an active and/or protein transport mechanism between the sperm cells and SP [43,44].…”

“…It was suggested that proteins occurring in both sperm and SP proteome could be due to non-specific aggregation of spermatozoa and SP proteins or might indicate an active and/or protein transport mechanism between the sperm cells and SP [43,44]. In different animal species, it has been confirmed that the SP comprises a diverse set of protein components, which bind to spermatozoa and affect their membrane structure and fertilizing ability [8,9,11,12,26]. Moreover, SP proteins also affect the physiology of the female reproductive tract, influencing the immune and inflammatory response processes, and embryo development [9,45,46].…”

“…It is noteworthy that GO analysis shows that KIF15, a binding protein, is related to ″microtubulebased movement″ (GO:0007018) and is implicated in spermatogenesis [63], reaffirming the role of the protein in sperm motility during PT storage. Furthermore, kinesin-like proteins in human SP are suggested to play a role in organelle transport [64], whereas their role in goat SP has not been elucidated [12]. Likewise, the biological functions of ANGPTLI and SOCS5 proteins are related to the GO term ″regulation of cell motility″, suggesting their contributions to sperm cryo-survival.…”

“…Moreover, boar SP proteins were suggested to be potential markers for fertility in artificial insemination (AI) of boars [7,8]. Given the importance of SP proteins, functional proteomics has been used as a new tool to identify markers associated with semen fertility or sperm cryotolerance [9][10][11][12].…”