Unraveling the role of sperm retained histones in bull fertility and daughter fertility

During spermatogenesis, a substantial proportion of histones are substituted by protamine to condense the genome within the sperm head. Studies indicate that a minority of histones, typically ranging from 1 to 15 %, persist in mammalian sperm post-substitution. The persistence of histones in the zyg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Theriogenology 2024-12, Vol.230, p.299-304
Main Authors: Vargas, Luna Nascimento, Zhang, Ying, Wu, Chongyang, Martin, Hélène, Alonso Goulart, Vivian, Plessis, Clément, Sirard, Marc-André
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomarker
Fertility
Histone
Sperm
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Summary:During spermatogenesis, a substantial proportion of histones are substituted by protamine to condense the genome within the sperm head. Studies indicate that a minority of histones, typically ranging from 1 to 15 %, persist in mammalian sperm post-substitution. The persistence of histones in the zygote facilitates chromatin accessibility to transcription factors in regions crucial for early embryonic development. Nevertheless, the potential causal relationship between retained histones and fertility phenotypes remains uncertain. This study seeks to investigate this relationship. The results indicate that in mature bovine sperm, regions of DNA associated with fertility that bind to histones are primarily concentrated in promoters and transcription start sites, potentially impacting bull fertility and offspring fertility through the regulation of relevant genes. Furthermore, microRNAs and estradiol/ESR are suggested to be the main regulators of the canonical pathways identified, highlighting the need for additional research to investigate their potential utility as biomarkers. •The study found a significant link between histone binding sequences to the high bull (840) and daughter fertility (177).•It was observed that approximately 55 % of DNA regions linked to fertility were retained in promoters.•Bull and daughter fertility are associated to developmental processes like tissue development and organism survival.•MiR-130a, miR-182-5p, and others are activated in the bull fertility group but inhibited in the daughter fertility group.•The predicted association between bull fertility and the upstream regulators Beta-estradiol and ESR1, ESR2 has been found.
ISSN:0093-691X
1879-3231
1879-3231
DOI:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2024.09.023