title: Amyloid precursor protein interaction network in human testis: sentinel proteins for male reproduction.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is widely recognized for playing a central role in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis. Although APP is expressed in several tissues outside the human central nervous system, the functions of APP and its family members in other tissues are still poorly understood. APP is involved in several biological functions which might be potentially important for male fertility, such as cell adhesion, cell motility, signaling, and apoptosis. Furthermore, APP superfamily members are known to be associated with fertility. Knowledge on the protein networks of APP in human testis and spermatozoa will shed light on the function of APP in the male reproductive system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We performed a Yeast Two-Hybrid screen and a database search to study the interaction network of APP in human testis and sperm. To gain insights into the role of APP superfamily members in fertility, the study was extended to APP-like protein 2 (APLP2). We analyzed several topological properties of the APP interaction network and the biological and physiological properties of the proteins in the APP interaction network were also specified by gene ontologyand pathways analyses. We classified significant features related to the human male reproduction for the APP interacting proteins and identified modules of proteins with similar functional roles which may show cooperative behavior for male fertility.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present work provides the first report on the APP interactome in human testis. Our approach allowed the identification of novel interactions and recognition of key APP interacting proteins for male reproduction, particularly in sperm-oocyte interaction.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Signal Transduction, Centre for Cell Biology, Health Sciences Department and Biology Department, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. joanavieirasilva@ua.pt.
authors.forename: Joana Vieira
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, I3N, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. syoon@ua.pt.
authors.forename: Sooyeon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurosciences, Centre for Cell Biology, Health Sciences Department and Biology Department, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. sdomingues@ua.pt.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Domingues
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurosciences, Centre for Cell Biology, Health Sciences Department and Biology Department, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. asofia.guimaraes@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guimarães
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, I3N, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. goltsev@ua.pt.
authors.forename: Alexander V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Goltsev
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Signal Transduction, Centre for Cell Biology, Health Sciences Department and Biology Department, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. msanciofardilha@ua.pt.
authors.forename: Edgar Figueiredo
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: da Cruz E Silva
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, I3N, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. jfmendes@ua.pt.
authors.forename: José Fernando F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Mendes
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurosciences, Centre for Cell Biology, Health Sciences Department and Biology Department, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. odetecs@ua.pt.
authors.forename: Odete Abreu Beirão
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: da Cruz E Silva
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Signal Transduction, Centre for Cell Biology, Health Sciences Department and Biology Department, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. mfardilha@ua.pt.|Centro de Biologia Celular, SACS, Edifício 30, Universidade de Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. mfardilha@ua.pt.
authors.forename: Margarida
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fardilha
mesh_terms: D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D025941:Protein Interaction Mapping; D060066:Protein Interaction Maps; D012098:Reproduction; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D016564:Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor