title: The maturation of murine spermatozoa membranes within the epididymis, a computational biology perspective.
abstract: To become fertile, mammalian spermatozoa require completing a complex biochemical maturation that begins in the testis and ends within the female oviduct. Here, we paid attention to the events occurring at the membrane level during the epididymal transit. Indeed, in the epididymis, the molecular composition and the physical-chemical proprieties of sperm membranes markedly change, with functional cross talking among the spermatozoa, the epithelium, and the luminal content (particularly the epididymosomes). To study this process, we undertook a biological networks study, representing the involved molecules as nodes and their interactions as links. The analysis of network topology revealed that it has a scale free and small world architecture and it is robust against random failure. That assures a fast and efficient transmission of information and it leads to identifying the molecules exerting a higher level of control on the system, among which cholesterol plays a pivotal role. The reactome enrichment analysis allowed the reconstruction of the biochemical pathways involved in sperm epididymal maturation and STRING analysis permitted the identification of molecular events possibly involved in that process. In conclusion, this approach allows inferring interesting information, thus contributing to the knowledge on this process and suggesting staring points for further research.
authors: a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine , University of Teramo , Teramo , Italy.
authors: Nicola
authors: N
authors: Bernabò
authors: a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine , University of Teramo , Teramo , Italy.
authors: Raffaele Di
authors: RD
authors: Agostino
authors: a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine , University of Teramo , Teramo , Italy.
authors: Alessandra
authors: A
authors: Ordinelli
authors: a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine , University of Teramo , Teramo , Italy.
authors: Mauro
authors: M
authors: Mattioli
authors: a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine , University of Teramo , Teramo , Italy.
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: Barboni
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000502:physiology*; D019295:Computational Biology; D004822:Epididymis / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D013079:Sperm Maturation
keywords: Biological networks; cholesterol; epididymis; membrane; spermatozoa