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Tavares-Bastos L, Cunha LD, França FGR, Diele-Viegas LM, Vieira GHC, Santos MG, Vaqueiro AC, Gower DJ, Colli GR, Báo SN. Comparative electron microscopy study of spermatozoa in snakes (Lepidosauria, Squamata). Micron 2024; 182:103637. [PMID: 38688142 DOI: 10.1016/j.micron.2024.103637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 02/17/2024] [Accepted: 04/13/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
The ultrastructure of snake sperm has received substantial attention primarily because snakes exhibit considerable variability in reproductive characteristics between species, with a wide range of mating systems and reproductive behaviors. Variability of sperm morphology among snake species may be associated with the reproductive strategies of each taxon, such as competition or sperm storage. We provide a detailed description of the sperm ultrastructure of nine snake species (Anilius scytale, Tropidophis paucisquamis, Bothrops jararaca, Oxyrhopus guibei, Dipsas mikanii, Micrurus corallinus, Xenopholis scalaris, Acrochordus javanicus, and Cylindrophis ruffus) and compared this with sperm data from the literature for the following taxa: Liotyphlops beui, Amerotyphlops reticulatus, Trilepida koppesi, Anilios waitii, Anilios endoterus, Aspidites melanochephalus, Boa constrictor amarali, Corallus hortulana, Epicrates cenchria, Boa constrictor occidentalis, Eryx jayakari, Micrurus corallinus, Micrurus surinamensis, Micrurus frontalis, Micrurus altirostris, Oxyuranus microlepidotus, Bothrops alternatus, Bothrops diporus, Crotalus durissus, Agkistrodon contortrix, Vipera aspis, Boiga irregularis, Zamenis schrenckii, Zamenis scalaris, Stegonotus cuculatus, Nerodia sipedon, Liodytes pygaea, and Myrrophis chinensis. We found twelve polymorphic characters in the ultrastructure of sperm among the described snakes. Our work supports the importance of ultrastructural analysis of sperm morphology to understand snake reproduction, and provides sperm-derived morphological characters for phylogenetic analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Tavares-Bastos
- Setor de Histologia e Embriologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, Maceió, AL 57072-970, Brazil.
| | - L D Cunha
- Departamento de Biologia Celular e Molecular e Bioagentes Patogênicos, Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
| | - F G R França
- Centro de Ciências Aplicadas e Educação, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Rio Tinto, PB 58297-000, Brazil.
| | - L M Diele-Viegas
- Laboratório de (Bio)Diversidade no Antropoceno (BioDivA), Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia 40170-115, Brazil.
| | - G H C Vieira
- Departamento de Sistemática e Ecologia, Centro de Ciências Exatas e da Natureza, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil.
| | - M G Santos
- Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF 70919-900, Brazil.
| | - A C Vaqueiro
- Pós-graduação em Ciências da Saúde, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF 70919-900, Brazil.
| | - D J Gower
- Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK.
| | - G R Colli
- Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF 70919-900, Brazil.
| | - S N Báo
- Departamento de Biologia Celular, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF 70919-900, Brazil.
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Lima-Verde IB, Matos MHT, Saraiva MVA, Bruno JB, Tenório SB, Martins FS, Rossetto R, Cunha LD, Name KPO, Báo SN, Campello CC, Figueiredo JR. Interaction between estradiol and follicle-stimulating hormone promotes in vitro survival and development of caprine preantral follicles. Cells Tissues Organs 2009; 191:240-7. [PMID: 19641292 DOI: 10.1159/000231484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/08/2009] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of estradiol and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) on survival and growth of caprine preantral follicles. Pieces of ovarian tissue were cultured for 1 or 7 days in minimum essential medium (MEM) containing estradiol (1, 5, 10, 20 or 40 pg/ml), FSH (50 ng/ml), or a combination of the two hormones. Cultured and noncultured control ovarian tissues were processed for histological and ultrastructural studies. The results showed that after 7 days of culture, the treatments that yielded the highest percentage of normal follicles relative to MEM alone were those that combined FSH with estradiol at 1, 5 or 20 pg/ml. The addition of FSH to 1-day cultures containing 1 pg/ml estradiol or to 7-day cultures with 1 or 5 pg/ml estradiol increased the percentage of normal follicles compared to estradiol alone at the same concentrations. After 7 days of culture, all treatments generated higher percentages of developing follicles as compared to control and MEM alone. The addition of either FSH or 10 pg/ml of estradiol to the culture media or estradiol (1, 5, 10 or 20 pg/ml) and FSH in combination significantly increased follicular diameter as compared with MEM alone following 7 days of culture. Ultrastructural studies confirmed follicular integrity after 7 days of culture in the presence of 1 pg/ml estradiol plus FSH. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the interaction between estradiol and FSH maintains ultrastructural integrity and stimulates activation and further growth of cultured caprine preantral follicles.
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Tian M, Huitema E, Da Cunha L, Torto-Alalibo T, Kamoun S. A Kazal-like extracellular serine protease inhibitor from Phytophthora infestans targets the tomato pathogenesis-related protease P69B. J Biol Chem 2004; 279:26370-7. [PMID: 15096512 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m400941200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 191] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
The oomycetes form one of several lineages within the eukaryotes that independently evolved a parasitic lifestyle and consequently are thought to have developed alternative mechanisms of pathogenicity. The oomycete Phytophthora infestans causes late blight, a ravaging disease of potato and tomato. Little is known about processes associated with P. infestans pathogenesis, particularly the suppression of host defense responses. We describe and functionally characterize an extracellular protease inhibitor, EPI1, from P. infestans. EPI1 contains two domains with significant similarity to the Kazal family of serine protease inhibitors. Database searches suggested that Kazal-like proteins are mainly restricted to animals and apicomplexan parasites but appear to be widespread and diverse in the oomycetes. Recombinant EPI1 specifically inhibited subtilisin A among major serine proteases and inhibited and interacted with the pathogenesis-related P69B subtilisin-like serine protease of tomato in intercellular fluids. The epi1 and P69B genes were coordinately expressed and up-regulated during infection of tomato by P. infestans. Inhibition of tomato proteases by EPI1 could form a novel type of defense-counterdefense mechanism between plants and microbial pathogens. In addition, this study points to a common virulence strategy between the oomycete plant pathogen P. infestans and several mammalian parasites, such as the apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miaoying Tian
- Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster, Ohio 44691, USA
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