- Title
- Tracing sperm acrosome differentiation in the testis and maturation in the epididymis of the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) with a 45-kDa acrosome-membrane-associated protein
- Creator
- Zhang, Xiyi; Lin, Minjie
- Relation
- Reproduction Fertility and Development Vol. 14, Issue 2, p. 69-77
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/RD01116
- Publisher
- CSIRO Publishing
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2002
- Description
- A 45-kDa protein was originally extracted from a depression, where the acrosome is lodged, on the anterior end of the sperm nucleus of ejaculated wallaby spermatozoa. Using immunofluorescent and confocal microscopes, this study demonstrates that the 45-kDa protein is persistently localized to the sperm acrosome throughout the periods of spermiogenesis, spermiation, epididymal maturation and ejaculation in the tammar wallaby. The distribution of the 45-kDa protein is always on the perimeter of the acrosome and associated with the acrosomal membrane, so that changes in the shape of the 45-kDa immunofluorescent labelling mirror changes in the shape of the acrosome during its differentiation in the testis and epididymis. Thus, the 45-kDa protein may be used as a molecular marker to study the marsupial acrosome differentiation and to chart the events of testicular and epididymal maturation of the spermatozoa. Furthermore, the behaviour of the 45-kDa protein during the immunostaining process suggests that this protein is a largely insoluble and detergent-resistant protein and may play an important role in attachment of the acrosome to the nucleus during sperm formation, similar to those inner acrosomal-membrane-associated proteins that have been reported in eutherian spermatozoa.
- Subject
- marsupial; sperm maturation; spermatozoa; spermiogenesis; Macropus eugenii
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/27272
- Identifier
- uon:1512
- Identifier
- ISSN:1031-3613
- Language
- eng
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