Comparative Analysis of Mitochondrial Proteome Reveals the Mechanism of Enhanced Ram Sperm Motility Induced by Carbon Ion Radiation After In Vitro Liquid Storage

Comparative Study on the Sperm Proteomes of Horses and Donkeys

The reproductive performance of horse sperm and donkey sperm has been reported to differ. Sperm proteins play a crucial role in sperm viability and fertility. Although differences between species are known, no prior study has investigated disparities in the sperm proteome between horses and donkeys. Therefore, this study characterized and compared the sperm proteomes of horses and donkeys using 4D-DIA mass spectrometry technology. We identified 3436 proteins in horse sperm and 3404 proteins in donkey sperm. Of these, 3363 proteins were expressed in both horse and donkey sperm, with 73 proteins being specifically expressed in horse sperm, and 41 in donkey sperm. According to data analysis, donkeys exhibited a greater percentage of motility and progressive movement in straight-line sperm than horses, as well as lower percentages of static and slow sperm than horses. Joint analysis of the results from the horse and donkey sperm proteomes and their CEROS II-read parameters demonstrated a possible association between sperm proteins and their sperm viability patterns. These findings suggest that there are discrepancies in the expression levels and protein compositions of horse and donkey sperm and that certain specific proteins may be responsible for the differences in performance between these two species.

Proteomic fertility markers in ram sperm

Precise estimation of ram fertility is important for sheep farming to sustain reproduction efficiency and profitability of production. There, however, is no conventional method to accurately predict ram fertility. The objective of this study, therefore, was to ascertain proteomic profiles of ram sperm having contrasting fertility phenotypes. Mature rams (n = 66) having greater pregnancy rates than average (89.4 ± 7.2%) were assigned into relatively-greater fertility (GF; n = 31; 94.5 ± 2.8%) whereas those with less-than-average pregnancy rates were assigned into a lesser-fertility (LF; n = 25; 83.1 ± 5.73%; P = 0.028) group. Sperm samples from the outlier greatest- and least-fertility rams (n = 6, pregnancy rate; 98.4 ± 1.8% and 76.1 ± 3.9%) were used for proteomics assessments utilizing Label-free LC-MS/MS. A total of 997 proteins were identified, and among these, 840 were shared by both groups, and 57 and 93 were unique to GF and LF, respectively. Furthermore, 190 differentially abundant proteins were identified; the abundance of 124 was larger in GF while 66 was larger in LF rams. The GF ram sperm had 79 GO/pathway terms in ten major biological networks while there were 47 GO/pathway terms in six biological networks in sperm of LF rams. Accordingly, differential abundances of sperm proteins between sperm of GF and LF rams were indicative of functional implications of sperm proteome on male fertility. The results of this study emphasize there are potential protein markers for evaluation of semen quality and estimation of ram sperm fertilizing capacity.

Comparative Proteomics and Phosphoproteomics Analysis Reveal the Possible Breed Difference in Yorkshire and Duroc Boar Spermatozoa

Sperm cells are of unique elongated structure and function, the development of which is tightly regulated by the existing proteins and the posttranslational modifications (PTM) of these proteins. Based on the phylogenetic relationships of various swine breeds, Yorkshire boar is believed to be distinctly different from Duroc boar. The comprehensive differential proteomics and phosphoproteomics profilings were performed on spermatozoa from both Yorkshire and Duroc boars. By both peptide and PTM peptide quantification followed by statistical analyses, 167 differentially expressed proteins were identified from 1,745 proteins, and 283 differentially expressed phosphopeptides corresponding to 102 unique differentially phosphorylated proteins were measured from 1,140 identified phosphopeptides derived from 363 phosphorylated proteins. The representative results were validated by Western blots. Pathway enrichment analyses revealed that majority of differential expression proteins and differential phosphorylation proteins were primarily concerned with spermatogenesis, male gamete generation, sperm motility, energy metabolism, cilium morphogenesis, axonemal dynein complex assembly, sperm–egg recognition, and capacitation. Remarkably, axonemal dynein complex assembly related proteins, such as SMCP, SUN5, ODF1, AKAP3, and AKAP4 that play a key regulatory role in the sperm physiological functions, were significantly higher in Duroc spermatozoa than that of Yorkshire. Furthermore, phosphorylation of sperm-specific proteins, such as CABYR, ROPN1, CALM1, PRKAR2A, and PRKAR1A, participates in regulation of the boar sperm motility mainly through the cAMP/PKA signal pathway in different breeds, demonstrating that protein phosphorylation may be an important mechanism underlying the sperm diversity. Protein–protein interaction analysis revealed that the 14 overlapped proteins between differential expression proteins and differential phosphorylation proteins potentially played a key role in sperm development and motility of the flagellum, including the proteins ODF1, SMCP, AKAP4, FSIP2, and SUN5. Taken together, these physiologically and functionally differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) and differentially expressed phosphorylated proteins (DPPs) may constitute the proteomic backgrounds between the two different boar breeds. The validation will be performed to delineate the roles of these PTM proteins as modulators of Yorkshire and Duroc boar spermatozoa.

Repair characteristics and time-dependent effects in response to heavy-ion beam irradiation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: a comparison with X-ray irradiation

Heavy-ion beam (HIB) irradiation has been widely used in microbial mutation breeding. However, a global cellular response to such radiation remains mostly uncharacterised. In this study, we used transcriptomics to analyse the damage repair response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae following a semi-lethal HIB irradiation (80 Gy), which induced a significant number of DNA double-strand breaks. Our analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from 50 to 150 min post-irradiation revealed that upregulated genes were significantly enriched for gene ontology and Kyoto encyclopaedia of genes and genomes terms related to damage repair response. Based on the number of DEGs, their annotation, and their relative expression, we established that the peak of the damage repair response occurred 75 min post-irradiation. Moreover, we exploited the data from our recent study on X-ray irradiation-induced repair to compare the transcriptional patterns induced by semi-lethal HIB and X-ray irradiations. Although these two radiations have different properties, we found a significant overlap (> 50%) for the DEGs associated with five typical DNA repair pathways and, in both cases, identified homologous recombination repair (HRR) as the predominant repair pathway. Nevertheless, when we compared the relative enrichment of the five DNA repair pathways at the key time point of the repair process, we found that the relative enrichment of HRR was higher after HIB irradiation than after X-ray irradiation. Additionally, the peak stage of HRR following HIB irradiation was ahead of that following X-ray irradiation. Since mutations occur during the DNA repair process, uncovering detailed repair characteristics should further the understanding of the associated mutagenesis features.