Proteomic analysis of mammalian gametes and sperm-oocyte interactions.

Proteomic analysis occupies an increasingly important place in gamete and embryo biology as an independent tool of discovery and as a means of follow-up to transcriptional profiling. Proteomics have been and will be increasingly helpful in many areas of reproductive biology, including applied science and technology development. Areas likely to be impacted most rapidly by proteomic knowledge include fertility evaluation in male farm animals, male infertility diagnostics in humans, assessment and optimization of oocyte and embryo culture protocols, selection of fittest oocytes for assisted fertilization and selection of most competent embryos for embryo transfer. Oocyte proteomics will help us understand the process of oogenesis and oocyte maturation, and to discover non-invasive markers of oocyte quality. Sperm proteomics correlate with normal sperm structure and function and can be applied to discover novel biomarkers of farm animal fertility and diagnostic markers of human male infertility. Putative receptors participating in fertilization, as well as proteins acquired onto sperm surface from epididymal fluid and seminal plasma, have been discovered by proteomic analysis. An added level of information is provided by advanced proteomic approaches, capable of identifying posttranslational modifications such as phosphorylation, glycosylation and ubiquitination which play important functions in gametogenesis, fertilization and embryo development. By no means exhaustive, the present paper reviews some of the most interesting proteomic studies of mammalian gametes and embryos published in the last decade.