About this item:

416 Views | 529 Downloads

Author Notes:

To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: lmiao@moon.ibp.ac.cn or dongmengqiu@nibs.ac.cn.

Author contributions: M.-Q.D. and L.M. designed research

Y.Z., W.S., P.Z., H.C., M.-J.Z., C.-Q.S., X.M., Y.S., B.W., Y.H., S.-M.H., M.-Q.D., and L.M. performed research

Z.H., A.F.H., S.W.L., and S.-M.H. contributed new reagents/analytic tools

Y.Z., W.S., P.Z., H.C., M.-J.Z., C.-Q.S., X.M., Y.S., B.W., Y.H., F.M., S.W.L., S.-M.H., M.-Q.D., and L.M. analyzed data

Y.Z., F.M., S.W.L., M.-Q.D., and L.M. wrote the paper.

We thank Dr. Li-Lin Du for valuable ideas regarding the BLAST search; Dr. Jian Ren for advice with Fig. 3F; Ning Yang for help with Fig. 1E; Gail Ekman for advice in degenerate PCR; Dr. Taotao Wei for providing various protease inhibitors; Drs. Hengbin Wang and Yixian Zheng for critically reading the manuscript; and Wei Zhuang for excellent technical assistance.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Subject:

Research Funding:

This research was supported by Grants 2012CB94502, 2010CB912303, and 30971648 (to L.M.), 2007AA02Z1A7 and 2010CB835203 (to M.-Q.D.), 2010CB912701 (to S.-M.H.), 30871226 and 31071180 (to Y.Z.) from the government of the People's Republic of China. L.M. is supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences 100-Talents Program.

S.W.L. was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant GM082932.

Keywords:

  • Science & Technology
  • Multidisciplinary Sciences
  • Science & Technology - Other Topics
  • MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES
  • cell motility
  • regulated exocytosis
  • sperm competition
  • postcopulatory sexual selection
  • de novo sequencing
  • SEMINAL FLUID PROTEINS
  • CAENORHABDITIS-ELEGANS
  • DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER
  • AMEBOID SPERM
  • MICE LACKING
  • IN-VITRO
  • COMPETITION
  • FERTILIZATION
  • SPERMATOZOA
  • MOTILITY

Nematode sperm maturation triggered by protease involves sperm-secreted serine protease inhibitor (Serpin)

Show all authors Show less authors

Tools:

Journal Title:

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Volume:

Volume 109, Number 5

Publisher:

, Pages 1542-1547

Type of Work:

Article | Final Publisher PDF

Abstract:

Spermiogenesis is a series of poorly understood morphological, physiological and biochemical processes that occur during the transition of immotile spermatids into motile, fertilization-competent spermatozoa. Here, we identified a Serpin (serine protease inhibitor) family protein (As-SRP-1) that is secreted from spermatids during nematode Ascaris suum spermiogenesis (also called sperm activation) and we showed that As-SRP-1 has two major functions. First, As-SRP-1 functions in cis to supportmajor spermprotein (MSP)- based cytoskeletal assembly in the spermatid that releases it, thereby facilitating sperm motility acquisition. Second, As-SRP-1 released froman activated sperminhibits, in trans, the activation of surrounding spermatids by inhibiting vas deferens-derived As-TRY-5, a trypsin- like serine protease necessary for sperm activation. Because vesicular exocytosis is necessary to create fertilization-competent sperm in many animal species, components released during this process might be more important modulators of the physiology and behavior of surrounding sperm than was previously appreciated.
Export to EndNote