Methodological advances in sperm proteomics

Abstract

Proteomics is the study of the proteins of cells or tissues. Sperm proteomics aims to identify the proteins that compose the sperm cell and the study of their function. Recent developments in mass spectrometry (MS) have markedly increased the throughput to identify and study sperm proteins. Catalogues of hundreds to thousands of spermatozoan proteins in human and in model species are becoming available setting up the basis for subsequent research, diagnostic applications and the development of specific treatments. A wide range of MS techniques are also rapidly becoming available for researchers. The present review summarises the different methodological options to study the sperm cell using MS and to provide a summary of some of the ongoing proteomic studies.

Keywords:

• Spermatozoa
• proteome
• protamine
• epigenetic
• imprinting

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (BFU2009-07118), fondos FEDER.