Orchestrating the expression levels of sperm mRNAs reveals CCDC174 as an important determinant of semen quality and bull fertility.

Orchestrating the expression levels of sperm mRNAs reveals CCDC174 as an important determinant of semen quality and bull fertility. Syst Biol Reprod Med. 2020 Nov 15;:1-13 Authors: Selvaraju S, Swathi D, Ramya L, Lavanya M, Archana SS, Sivaram M Abstract Bulls with acceptable semen quality vary in actual field fertility and this can be elucidated by studying the expression levels of mRNAs in the sperm. The present study aimed at assessing the variations in the sperm gene expression levels of PRM1, CCDC174, RPL36A, TMCO2, SWI5 and OIT3 in bulls differing in fertility status. Frozen semen samples from Holstein-Friesian bulls were classified into high-fertile (n = 8, average field conception rate = 46.1 ± 0.51, p < 0.001) and sub-fertile (n = 7, average field conception rate = 39.4 ± 0.69) groups. In the post-thaw semen samples, sperm kinematics, structural and functional membrane integrities, mitochondrial membrane potential and chromatin distribution were analyzed. The sperm total RNA was subjected to gene expression studies by Real-Time PCR. Multivariate regression analysis was performed using gene expression levels and conception rates. The sperm functional attributes did not differ significantly between the groups. The relative mRNA levels (fold change) of CCDC174 (6.20), RPL36A (4.66), SWI5 (1.86) and OIT3 (1.53) were higher in high-fertile bulls. Further, the expression level of the CCDC174 gene was significantly ...
Source: Systems Biology in Reproductive Medicine - Category: Reproduction Medicine Authors: Tags: Syst Biol Reprod Med Source Type: research