Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation (Charles Sturt University and NSW Department of Primary Industries), Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia.
Apiam Animal Health, Apiam Genetic Services, Dubbo, NSW 2830, Australia.
Genes (Basel). 2021 Jan 30;12(2):203. doi: 10.3390/genes12020203.
Reduced reproductive efficiency results in economic losses to the Australian sheep industry. Reproductive success, particularly after artificial insemination, is dependent on a number of contributing factors on both ewe and ram sides. Despite considerable emphasis placed on characterising ewe side contributions, little emphasis has been placed on characterising ram side contributions to conception success. Over 14,000 transcripts are in spermatozoa of other species, which are transferred to the ova on fertilisation. These transcripts conceivably influence early embryonic development and whether conception is successful. Semen was collected ( = 45) across three breeds; Merino, Dohne, and Poll Dorset. Following collection, each ejaculate was split in two; an aliquot was assessed utilising Computer Assisted Semen Analysis (CASA) and the remaining was utilised for RNA extraction and subsequent next-generation sequencing. Overall, 754 differentially expressed genes were identified in breed contrasts and contrast between ejaculates of different quality. Downstream analysis indicated that these genes could play significant roles in a broad range of physiological functions, including maintenance of spermatogenesis, fertilisation, conception, embryonic development, and offspring production performance. Overall results provide evidence that the spermatozoal transcriptome could be a crucial contributing factor in improving reproductive performance as well as in the overall productivity and profitability of sheep industries.
繁殖效率的降低会给澳大利亚的绵羊产业带来经济损失。繁殖的成功，尤其是在人工授精之后，取决于母羊和公羊双方的许多因素。尽管人们非常重视描述母羊方面的贡献，但对公羊方面对受孕成功的贡献却重视不够。在其他物种的精子中有超过 14000 个转录本，这些转录本在受精时被转移到卵子中。这些转录本可能会影响早期胚胎发育和受孕是否成功。从三个品种（美利奴羊、多恩羊和 Poll Dorset 羊）中收集精液（=45）。收集后，每个精液样本被分成两份；一份使用计算机辅助精液分析（CASA）进行评估，其余的用于 RNA 提取和随后的下一代测序。总体而言，在品种对比和不同质量精液的对比中，鉴定出了 754 个差异表达的基因。下游分析表明，这些基因可能在广泛的生理功能中发挥重要作用，包括维持精子发生、受精、受孕、胚胎发育和后代生产性能。总的结果表明，精子转录组可能是提高繁殖性能以及提高绵羊产业整体生产力和盈利能力的一个关键因素。
