Hwang Jae Yeon
Department of Integrated Biological Science, Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea.
Department of Molecular Biology, Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea.
Anim Cells Syst (Seoul). 2025 Aug 28;29(1):556-569. doi: 10.1080/19768354.2025.2548936. eCollection 2025.
Mammalian spermatozoa acquire fertilizing ability in response to environmental factors enriched in the female reproductive tract, a process called capacitation. During capacitation, sperm undergo physiological changes that are accompanied by functional regulation of sperm proteins. However, the mechanism by which capacitation orchestrates sperm protein functions to modulate physiological characteristics remains unclear. Here, I analyzed capacitation-mediated global proteomic changes in mouse spermatozoa to unravel the underlying molecular association with the biological processes in sperm capacitation. I quantitatively compared 4,587 proteins identified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Among them, the amounts of 47 and 180 proteins were reduced to over 1.5-fold ( < 0.05) and 1.3-fold ( < 0.1), respectively, and those of 11 and 60 proteins were increased over 1.5-fold ( < 0.05) and 1.3-fold ( < 0.1), respectively, in capacitated mouse sperm. Functional annotation of proteins reduced in capacitated sperm revealed that these proteins could be associated with lipid metabolism, RNA processing, and remodeling of the nuclear envelope structure. This result suggests that reactive oxygen species might be more generated for cholesterol efflux and the nucleus might undergo decondensation to form pronucleus in sperm during capacitation. In addition, functional annotation of proteins of which levels are increased in capacitated sperm represents that they could be involved in sperm structure. This study expands the molecular contribution to modulation of sperm functions and provides new insights into potential biological processes involving regulatory molecular machinery in capacitated sperm.
哺乳动物精子会对雌性生殖道中丰富的环境因素做出反应，从而获得受精能力，这一过程称为获能。在获能过程中，精子会发生生理变化，同时伴随着精子蛋白质的功能调节。然而，获能协调精子蛋白质功能以调节生理特征的机制仍不清楚。在这里，我分析了获能介导的小鼠精子蛋白质组的整体变化，以揭示与精子获能生物学过程潜在的分子关联。我对通过液相色谱 - 串联质谱鉴定出的4587种蛋白质进行了定量比较。其中，在获能的小鼠精子中，分别有47种和180种蛋白质的含量降低至超过1.5倍（<0.05）和1.3倍（<0.1），分别有11种和60种蛋白质的含量增加超过1.5倍（<0.05）和1.3倍（<0.1）。对获能精子中含量降低的蛋白质进行功能注释发现，这些蛋白质可能与脂质代谢、RNA加工以及核膜结构重塑有关。这一结果表明，在获能过程中，精子可能会产生更多的活性氧用于胆固醇外流，并且细胞核可能会发生解聚以形成原核。此外，对获能精子中含量增加的蛋白质进行功能注释表明，它们可能参与精子结构。这项研究扩展了对精子功能调节的分子贡献，并为涉及获能精子中调节分子机制的潜在生物学过程提供了新的见解。
