Study On The Expression Of Ovine Sperm Membrane Protein Genes

In mammals, fertilization is completed by the direct interaction of sperm and egg, a process mediated primarily by gamete surface proteins. Therefore, an essential task in the study of sperm-egg interaction is an exploration of the capabilities of a distinct set of surface proteins, which are gamete specific. Application of a sperm specific protein in the development of a contraceptive vaccine is contingent upon its sperm specificity, involvement in fertility. A few of the sperm specific antigens have been isolated and characterized by biochemical and immunological techniques and genes encoding for some of these antigen have been cloned and sequenced. Notable among these antigen are come from studies with mammals because of ease of collecting gametes or the relevance to human fertility.In the present study, based on the findings of other species (human, cow, pig, mouse,quinea pig,monkey,et al) sperm membrane proteins, we cloned the gene of four kinds of sperm membrane proteins of ovine. Then we examined the mRNA level expression of the four kinds of sperm proteins of ovine by RT-PCR and In situ hybridization. At last, we succeed to clone the full-length CDS cDNA sequence of ovine fertilin β. The major results are as follows:...