Green sperm to aid fertility work
A technique to make sperm glow green could aid research into
infertility, say scientists.
An Oxford University team extracted a gene that manufactures a green
protein in a jellyfish and used it to create green sperm in hamster
testicles.
Hamsters have similar sperm to humans and therefore provide an ideal
model for studying human sperm development, and how things go wrong.
Details are published in the journal Biology of Reproduction.
Our real aim is to use this technique to study the function of genes
that are im****tant during fertilisation
Dr John Parrington
The Oxford team say the technique should allow many different aspects
of gene function in sperm to be analysed in close detail.
It should be possible to highlight specific genes within the sperm
using the jellyfish protein, and then to follow their progress.
Lead researcher Dr John Parrington said: "Our real aim is to use this
technique to study the function of genes that are im****tant during
fertilisation and that may cause infertility if they become defective.
"That's an im****tant goal given that a recent study found that one in
seven British couples have fertility problems, and a third of these
have an unknown cause."
Many cells of the body can be cultured and genetically modified in the
lab.
But this is not possible for sperm cells because of their small size
and unusual shape, and because they only live for a short time outside
the body.
Egg activation
The Oxford team plan to focus on the mechanism by which sperm entering
an egg triggers it to develop into an embryo rather than remaining in
a state of suspended animation.
The technique may also offer the possibility of a new way of creating
genetically modified animals for all sorts of other research.
Currently, genetically modified mice are created by introducing
synthetic genes called transgenes into an egg.
However, this method is relatively inefficient, and so far attempts to
use it to create genetically modified versions of im****tant model
species such as hamsters and guinea pigs have failed.
Creating the transgenic animals from transgenic sperm - genetically
modifying the sperm and then fertilizing a normal egg with it - might
be the answer.
Not only would it potentially reduce the number of mice used in
medical research, it also opens up the possibility of studying gene
function in species that are better models than mice for studying
certain human diseases.
The fluorescent green protein only shows up in the mid-section of the
sperm between the head and the tail.
This is because the protein targets structures called mitochondria,
which are only located in the midpiece.
The fluorescence is only visible under a particular wavelength of
light under a microscope.
Dr Alan Pacey, a fertility expert based at the University of Sheffield
and secretary of the British Fertility Society, told the BBC News
website the research was an "exciting development".
He said "This will allow scientists to examine many aspects of sperm
function that would previously have been impossible.
"There is an awful lot to discover about how sperm work and why
sometimes they fail to function properly."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4263996.stm
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