Premium
Marked correlations in protein expression identified by proteomic analysis of human spermatozoa
Author(s) -
de Mateo Sara,
MartínezHeredia Juan,
Estanyol Josep Maria,
DomíguezFandos David,
VidalTaboada José Manuel,
Ballescà José Luis,
Oliva Rafael
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
proteomics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.26
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1615-9861
pISSN - 1615-9853
DOI - 10.1002/pmic.200700521
Subject(s) - protamine , sperm , proteome , biology , proteomics , prohibitin , heat shock protein , microbiology and biotechnology , male infertility , semen , gel electrophoresis , dna , andrology , genetics , infertility , biochemistry , gene , medicine , heparin , pregnancy
The present work was started to explore whether a correlation could be detected among proteomic expression, protamine content and DNA integrity in human sperm cells. Towards this goal, we extracted the proteins present in the sperm cells from 47 sperm samples from infertile patients and from ten semen donors, analysed each sample by 2‐D gel electrophoresis, and quantified the expression of 101 spots identified by MALDI‐TOF analysis. Additionally, the protamine content and DNA integrity were also determined. Several interesting proteins such as transcription factors, prohibitin, heat shock and proteasome proteins have been identified. We have found that the expression of an important number of proteins (58 different 2‐D spots) is correlated in independent sperm samples at high statistical significance ( p <0.001 and r >0.5). Additionally, eight proteins have also been found to correlate with DNA integrity and seven with protamine content ( p <0.05). To our knowledge, this is the first report describing the correlation between proteomics, DNA integrity and protamine content. It also sheds new light into the fundamental aspects of the human sperm and points to new potential proteins involved in male infertility.