Epidemiological evidence indicates that assisted reproductive technologies (ART) may be associated with several epigenetic diseases such as Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) or Silver-Russell syndrome (SRS). Selection of sperm by density-gradients in ART has improved DNA integrity and sperm quality; however, epigenetic alterations associated with this approach are largely unknown. In the presen...

Avian sperm are stored in the sperm storage tubules (SSTs) of the hen oviduct for a prolonged period. The impact of avidin-related protein-2 (AVRP2) and carbonic anhydrase II (CA II) in sperm viability in the SSTs has been suggested. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of oral administration of a high dose of thyroxine on the oviductal expression of AVRP2<...

Proteins present in the seminal fluid of Drosophila melanogaster (accessory gland proteins Acps) contribute to female postmating behavioral changes, sperm storage, sperm competition, and immunity. Consequently, male-female coevolution and host-pathogen interactions are thought to underlie the rapid, adaptive evolution that characterizes several Acp-encoding genes. We propose that seminal fluid ...

BACKGROUND The mismatch repair (MMR) pathway plays an important role in the maintenance of the genome integrity, meiotic recombination and gametogenesis. This study investigated whether genetic variations in MMR genes are associated with an increased risk of sperm DNA damage and male infertility. METHODS We selected and genotyped 21 tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in five MMR g...

BACKGROUND Asthenozoospermia may sometimes be related to genetic structural defects of the sperm tail detectable by transmission electron microscopy. Dysplasia of the fibrous sheath (DFS) is a genetic sperm defect, characterized by dysplastic development of the axonemal and periaxonemal cytoskeleton. We report the case of an infertile man with normal sperm count and total sperm immotility in wh...

To explore variations in the transcription activity during spermiogenesis, round and elongated spermatids were collected from ICR/CD1 model mice using laser capture microdissection (LCM) and cauda epididymal sperm samples. The transcripts were sequenced using RNA-seq, and the reads were mapped to mm9. The majority of the reads (70%) in the round and elongated spermatids were mappable to known a...

In this project transcriptome analysis on highthroughput RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) data of boar spermatozoa will be utilized to identify novel genetic markers associated with semen freezability. Three boars each with poor and good semen freezability will be subjected to transcriptome studies on sperm RNA-seq data, and in combination with bioinformatics screening, will select candidate genes asso...

The sperm whale, made famous by Moby Dick, is one of the most fascinating of all ocean-dwelling species given their unique life history, novel physiological adaptations to hunting squid at extreme ocean depths, and their position as one of the earliest branching toothed whales (Odontoceti). We assembled the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) genome and resequenced individuals from multiple oc...

The nuclei of eukaryotic cells can be thought of as a library containing the molecular ‘‘recipes,’’ or genes, for constructing the proteins and ribonucleic acid molecules used by a cell. Within the library, genes are grouped together into ‘‘books,’’ known as chromosomes, which consist of linear strands of DNA wrapped around specialized DNA-interacting proteins. Human body cells have 46 chromoso...

Children of older fathers carry an increased risk for developing autism and other disorders. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, we investigated the correlation of sperm DNA methylation with paternal age and its impact on the epigenome of the offspring. Methylation levels of nine candidate genes and LINE-1 repeats were quantified by bisulfite pyrosequencing in sperm DNA of 162 donors and 19...