The controversy, potential and roles of spermatozoal RNA.
The majority of cellular and molecular andrologists endorse the view that the sperm is a vessel for transporting the paternal genome to the waiting egg and nothing more. Any requirement for additional spermatozoal components that enter the ooplasm apart from the paternal centriole and the soluble egg-activating factor is generally dismissed. Many studies, however, have reported RNAs in ejaculate spermatozoa and we now know that mRNAs are delivered to the egg on fertilisation. The function and utility of sperm mRNA remains essentially unexplored. Here, we examine the controversy surrounding spermatozoal mRNA carriage, the evidence refuting its presence as an artefact and how spermatozoal mRNA is leading us to suspect that, quite apart from its undoubted diagnostic potential, it might have an important role in the establishment and maintenance of a viable paternal genome.
Miller
David
D
Reproduction and Early Development Group, University of Leeds, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Level D, Clarendon Wing, Leeds General Infirmary, Belmont Grove, Leeds, LS2 9NS, UK. d.miller@leeds.ac.uk
Ostermeier
G Charles
GC
Krawetz
Stephen A
SA
D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000235:genetics; D004542:Ejaculation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000235:genetics; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000502:physiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D002843:Chromatin; D009707:Nucleosomes; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012313:RNA