We used DNA microarrays to profile gene expression patterns in the C. elegans germline and identified 1416 germline-enriched transcripts that define three groups. The sperm-enriched group contains an unusually large number of protein kinases and phosphatases. The oocyte-enriched group includes potentially new components of embryonic signaling pathways. The germline-intrinsic group, defined as g...

Epidemiological studies suggest that a father's diet can influence offspring health. A proposed mechanism for paternal transmission of environmental information is via the sperm epigenome. The epigenome includes heritable information such as DNA methylation. We hypothesize that the dietary supply of methyl donors will alter epigenetic reprogramming in sperm. Here we feed male mice either a fola...

evidence suggests that human sperm chromatin anomalies adversely affect reproductive outcomes and infertile men possess substantially amount of sperm with chromatin anomalies than fertile men. routine semen analysis evaluates parameters such as sperm motility and morphology, but does not examine the nuclear dna integrity of spermatozoa. it has been suggested that altered nuclear chromatin struc...

In order to study the genetic control of semen quality parameters, we derived a set of recombinant inbred (RI) mice from crosses between two inbred strains, KE and CBA/Kw, which differ significantly in gamete quality and fertility parameters. In this work, we used male mice from the two parental strains and from ten RI strains to map genes controlling quantitative traits such as sperm mitochond...

Sperm competence in animal fertilization requires the collective activities of numerous sperm-specific proteins that are typically alloimmunogenic in females. Consequently, sperm membrane alloantigens are potential targets for contraceptives that act by blocking the proteins' functions in gamete interactions. Here we used a targeted proteomics approach to identify the major alloantigens in swin...

For a long time, it has been assumed that the only role of sperm at fertilization is to introduce the male genome into the egg. Recently, ideas have emerged that the epigenetic state of the sperm nucleus could influence transcription in the embryo. However, conflicting reports have challenged the existence of epigenetic marks on sperm genes, and there are no functional tests supporting the role...

Teratospermia is a heterogeneous and complex disorder, which is closely associated with male fertility. Genes and gene products associated with teratospermia may serve as targeted biomarkers that help understand the underlying mechanisms of male infertility; however, systematic information on the subject remains to be elucidated. The present study performed a comparative bioinformatics analysis...