Nature Genetics
- 38, 1440 - 1445 (2006)
Published online: 12 November 2006; | doi:10.1038/ng1915
Genomic and functional evolution of the Drosophila melanogaster sperm proteomeSteve Dorus1, 4, Scott A Busby2, 4, Ursula Gerike1, Jeffrey Shabanowitz2, Donald F Hunt2, 3 & Timothy L Karr11
Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK. 2
Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, USA. 3
Department of Pathology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, USA. 4
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence should be addressed to Timothy L Karr T.L.Karr@bath.ac.uk In addition to delivering a haploid genome to the egg, sperm have additional critical functions, including egg activation, origination of the zygote centrosome and delivery of paternal factors1,
2. Despite this, existing knowledge of the molecular basis of sperm form and function is limited. We used whole-sperm mass spectrometry to identify 381 proteins of the Drosophila melanogaster sperm proteome (DmSP). This approach identified mitochondrial, metabolic and cytoskeletal proteins, in addition to several new functional categories. We also observed nonrandom genomic clustering of sperm genes and underrepresentation on the X chromosome. Identification of widespread functional constraint on the proteome indicates that sexual selection has had a limited role in the overall evolution of D. melanogaster sperm. The relevance of the DmSP to the study of mammalian sperm function and fertilization mechanisms is demonstrated by the identification of substantial homology between the DmSP and proteins of the mouse axoneme accessory structure.
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