What is it about?
We have identified a variant in the adenylate kinase 9 (AK9) gene that is correlated with severely impaired sperm function and extreme subfertility in bulls. Knockout mice deficient in AK9 are completely infertile due to impaired sperm motility and an inability to penetrate the zona pellucida. Thus, AK9 has been found to be directly implicated in impaired male fertility in mammals.
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Why is it important?
Fertility is among the most important economic traits in livestock production. Despite passing routine laboratory tests of semen quality, bulls used in artificial insemination exhibit a significant range in field fertility. Furthermore, the widespread use of individual sires potentially promotes the propagation of recessive conditions.
Perspectives
Among all mammalian species, the confidence with which we can assign a fertility status to males is nowhere nearly as great as it is in bulls used in bovine artificial insemination (AI) due to the high number of inseminations and associated pregnancy and birth records per bull, sometimes reaching tens or even hundreds of thousands. In this study, using an interdisciplinary multi species approach, we describe the underlying cause of extreme sub fertility in a bull that had passed all of the routine semen laboratory tests and reveal the importance of adenylate kinase 9 for normal sperm function.
Pat Lonergan
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Adenylate kinase 9 is essential for sperm function and male fertility in mammals, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2305712120.
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