The protein and transcript profiles of human semen

Abstract

The increasing use of "-omics" (genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, epigenomic, and metabolomic) high-throughput measurement technologies over the past decade is beginning to reveal the complexity of human biology and physiology through the interactions of DNA, RNA, related proteins and small molecules. In reproductive medicine, the majority of this work, has thus far focused on the female factors, e.g., the oocyte, since they provide both the environment and the majority of elements required for embryogenesis. State-of-the-art sequencing and computational analyses have enabled a deeper understanding of the underlying components. Contrary to being simply a silent delivery vehicle to the oocyte of the packaged male DNA, sperm provide both a specific epigenetically marked genome together with a complex population of RNAs and proteins that are crucial for early embryogenesis. In addition to the sperm, seminal fluid appears to serve multiple roles providing a supplementary series of components that allow the sperm to successfully reach and fertilize the oocyte and prepare the female immune system to tolerate the semiallosteric embryo. A global analysis and review of what is presently known regarding the unique role of each component of the male factor and their associated interactions begins to shed light on this emergent field.

Occurrence and functional significance of the transcriptome in bovine (Bos taurus) spermatozoa

“…The transcripts enriched in spermatozoa were identified by comparing the bull spermatozoal transcripts (TPM > 10) with previously reported human spermatozoal transcripts19. Although all the transcripts were not identified in both the bovine and human profiles, the expression of common transcripts specific to sperm, testes and extracellular seminal fluid were identified (Table 6).…”

Fathers Matter: Why It’s Time to Consider the Impact of Paternal Environmental Exposures on Children’s Health

“…Examples of informative sperm epigenetic mechanisms include DNA methylation, different types of RNAs, and sperm proteins. 79,80 …”

Reproductive systems biology tackles global issues of population growth, food safety and reproductive health

“…While traditionally limited to subjective semen analysis and relegated to the back of infertile couple evaluation, male infertility diagnostics now benefit from new omics technologies and systems approaches (Baker et al 2010;Mao et al 2014), as reviewed from the point of view of sperm proteome's post-translational modifications by M. Baker (2015). Particularly exciting in this line of inquiry is the prospect that, in addition to paternal genes, the fertilizing human spermatozoon could deliver regulatory proteins and small RNAs to the oocyte at fertilization (Sendler et al 2013), thus influencing the course of early embryo development and possibly promoting non-Mendelian transgenerational inheritance, considered in a review by Jodar et al (2015). Rapid growth of sperm databases generated by the boom in sperm 'omics' makes it difficult to extract clinically-relevant information from the bulk of proteomic, genomic and epigenomic data.…”