Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov;64(6):1024-1034.
doi: 10.5187/jast.2022.e83. Epub 2022 Nov 30.

Prediction of male fertility using Ras-related proteins

Jeong-Won Bae  1 , Ju-Mi Hwang  1 , Woo-Sung Kwon  1
Affiliations

Prediction of male fertility using Ras-related proteins

Jeong-Won Bae et al. J Anim Sci Technol. 2022 Nov.

Abstract

Identifying effective biomarkers for the diagnosis of male fertility is crucial for improving animal production and treating male infertility in humans. Ras-related proteins (Rab) are associated with morphological and motion kinematic functions in spermatozoa. Moreover, Rab2A, a Rab protein, is a possible male fertility-related biomarker. The present study was designed to identify additional fertility-related biomarkers among the various Rab proteins. First, the expression of Rab proteins (Rab3A, 4, 5, 8A, 9, 14, 25, 27A, and 34A) from 31 duroc boar spermatozoa was measured before and after capacitation; correlation between Rab protein expression and litter size was evaluated by statistical analysis. The results showed that the expression of Rab3A, 4, 5, 8A, 9, and 25 before capacitation and Rab3A, 4, 5, 8A, 9, and 14 after capacitation were negatively correlated with litter size. Moreover, depending on the cut-off values calculated by receiver operating curves, an increase in litter size was observed when evaluating the ability of the Rab proteins to forecast litter size. Therefore, we suggest that Rab proteins may be potential fertility-related biomarkers that could help select superior sires in the livestock industry.

Keywords: Biomarkers; Male fertility; Pig; Prediction; Ras-related proteins.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.. Correlation between expression of Rab proteins and litter size before capacitation.
(A) Correlation between Rab3A in spermatozoa and litter size before capacitation. (B) Correlation between Rab4 in spermatozoa and litter size before capacitation. (C) Correlation between Rab5 in spermatozoa and litter size before capacitation. (D) Correlation between Rab8A in spermatozoa and litter size before capacitation. (E) Correlation between Rab9 in spermatozoa and litter size before capacitation. (F) Correlation between Rab25 in spermatozoa and litter size before capacitation. n = 3.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for expression of Rab proteins.
(A) ROC curve for expression of Rab3A, 4, 5, 8A, 9, and 25 before capacitation. (B) ROC curve for expression of Rab3A, 4, 5, 8A, 9, and 14 after capacitation.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.. Average litter size based on expression of Rab proteins before capacitation.
(A) Average litter size according to the expression of Rab3A (cut-off value = 0.0956). (B) Average litter size according to the expression of Rab4 (cut-off value = 0.0945). (C) Average litter size according to the expression of Rab5 (cut-off value = 0.1083). (D) Average litter size according to the expression of Rab8A (cut-off value = 0.1069). (E) Average litter size according to the expression of Rab9 (cut-off value = 0.1026). (F) Average litter size according to the expression of Rab25 (cut-off value = 0.0956). Data represent the mean ± SEM, *p < 0.05.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 4.. Correlation between expression of Rab proteins and litter size after capacitation.
(A) Correlation between Rab3A in spermatozoa and litter size after capacitation. (B) Correlation between Rab4 in spermatozoa and litter size after capacitation. (C) Correlation between Rab5 in spermatozoa and litter size after capacitation. (D) Correlation between Rab8A in spermatozoa and litter size after capacitation. (E) Correlation between Rab9 in spermatozoa and litter size after capacitation. (F) Correlation between Rab14 in spermatozoa and litter size after capacitation. n = 3.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 5.. Average litter size based on expression of Rab proteins after capacitation.
(A) Average litter size according to the expression of Rab3A (cut-off value = 0.1008). (B) Average litter size according to the expression of Rab4 (cut-off value = 0.0953). (C) Average litter size according to the expression of Rab5 (cut-off value = 0.1012). (D) Average litter size according to the expression of Rab8A (cut-off value = 0.1005). (E) Average litter size according to the expression of Rab9 (cut-off value = 0.0977). (F) Average litter size according to the expression of Rab25 (cut-off value = 0.0987). Data represent the mean ± SEM, *p < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kwon WS, Rahman MS, Ryu DY, Park YJ, Pang MG. Increased male fertility using fertility-related biomarkers. Sci Rep. 2015;5:15654. doi: 10.1038/srep15654. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kwon WS, Rahman MS, Lee JS, Yoon SJ, Park YJ, Pang MG. Discovery of predictive biomarkers for litter size in boar spermatozoa. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2015;14:1230–40. doi: 10.1074/mcp.M114.045369. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pang WK, Son JH, Ryu DY, Rahman MS, Park YJ, Pang MG. Heat shock protein family D member 1 in boar spermatozoa is strongly related to the litter size of inseminated sows. J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2022;13:42. doi: 10.1186/s40104-022-00689-0. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Liu S, Storrie B. Are Rab proteins the link between Golgi organization and membrane trafficking? Cell Mol Life Sci. 2012;69:4093–106. doi: 10.1007/s00018-012-1021-6. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bae JW, Yi JK, Jeong EJ, Lee WJ, Hwang JM, Kim DH, et al. Ras-related proteins (Rab) play significant roles in sperm motility and capacitation status. Reprod Biol. 2022;22:100617. doi: 10.1016/j.repbio.2022.100617. - DOI - PubMed