Rahman Md Saidur, Pang Myung-Geol
Department of Animal Science and Technology and BET Research Institute, Chung-Ang University, Anseong, South Korea.
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2020 Jan 21;7:388. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2019.00388. eCollection 2019.
A spermatozoon is a male germ cell capable of fertilizing an oocyte and carries genetic information for determining the sex of the offspring. It comprises autosomes and an X (X spermatozoa) or a Y chromosome (Y spermatozoa). The origin and maturation of both X and Y spermatozoa are the same, however, certain differences may exist. Previous studies proposed a substantial difference between X and Y spermatozoa, however, recent studies suggest negligible or no differences between these spermatozoa with respect to ratio, shape and size, motility and swimming pattern, strength, electric charge, pH, stress response, and aneuploidy. The only difference between X and Y spermatozoa lies in their DNA content. Moreover, recent proteomic and genomic studies have identified a set of proteins and genes that are differentially expressed between X and Y spermatozoa. Therefore, the difference in DNA content might be responsible for the differential expression of certain genes and proteins between these cells. In this review, we have compiled our present knowledge to compare X and Y spermatozoa with respect to their structural, functional, and molecular features. In addition, we have highlighted several areas that could be explored in future studies in this field.
精子是一种能够使卵母细胞受精的雄性生殖细胞，并携带用于确定后代性别的遗传信息。它由常染色体和一条X染色体（X精子）或一条Y染色体（Y精子）组成。X精子和Y精子的起源与成熟过程相同，不过，可能存在某些差异。以往的研究表明X精子和Y精子之间存在显著差异，然而，最近的研究显示，这些精子在比例、形状和大小、活力与游动模式、强度、电荷、pH值、应激反应和非整倍体方面的差异可以忽略不计或不存在差异。X精子和Y精子之间唯一的差异在于它们的DNA含量。此外，最近的蛋白质组学和基因组学研究已经鉴定出一组在X精子和Y精子之间差异表达的蛋白质和基因。因此，DNA含量的差异可能是这些细胞之间某些基因和蛋白质差异表达的原因。在这篇综述中，我们汇总了目前的知识，以比较X精子和Y精子在结构、功能和分子特征方面的异同。此外，我们还强调了该领域未来研究中可以探索的几个方面。
