Analysis of the sperm head protein profiles in fertile men: consistency across time in the levels of expression of heat shock proteins and peroxiredoxins

PLoS One. 2013 Oct 30;8(10):e77471. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0077471. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

We investigated the identity and quantitative variations of proteins extracted from human sperm heads using a label-free Gel-MS approach. Sperm samples were obtained from three men with high sperm counts at three different time points. This design allowed us to analyse intra-individual and inter-individual variations of the human sperm head proteome. Each time point was analyzed in triplicate to minimize any background artifactual effects of the methodology on the variation analyses. Intra-individual analysis using the spectral counting method revealed that the expression levels of 90% of the common proteins identified in three samples collected at various time-points, separated by several months, had a coefficient of variation of less than 0.5 for each man. Across individuals, the expression level of more than 80% of the proteins had a CV under 0.7. Interestingly, 83 common proteins were found within the core proteome as defined by the intra- and inter-variation analyses set criteria (CV<0.7). Some of these uniformly expressed proteins were chaperones, peroxiredoxins, isomerases, and cytoskeletal proteins. Although there is a significant level of inter-individual variation in the protein profiles of human sperm heads even in a well-defined group of men with high sperm counts, the consistent expression levels of a wide range of proteins points to their essential role during spermatogenesis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / genetics
  • Fertility / genetics*
  • Gene Expression
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Genetic Variation
  • Heat-Shock Proteins / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Isomerases / genetics
  • Male
  • Molecular Chaperones / genetics
  • Peroxiredoxins / genetics*
  • Proteome / genetics*
  • Sperm Count
  • Sperm Head / chemistry*
  • Sperm Head / metabolism
  • Spermatogenesis / genetics*
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Cytoskeletal Proteins
  • Heat-Shock Proteins
  • Molecular Chaperones
  • Proteome
  • Peroxiredoxins
  • Isomerases