Discovery, primary, and crystal structures and capacitation-related properties of a prostate-derived heparin-binding protein WGA16 from boar sperm.

ABSTRACT: Mammalian sperm acquire fertility through a functional maturation process called capacitation, where sperm membrane molecules are drastically remodeled. In this study, we found that a wheat germ agglutinin (WGA)-reactive protein on lipid rafts, named WGA16, is removed from the sperm surface on capacitation. WGA16 is a prostate-derived seminal plasma protein that has never been reported and is deposited on the sperm surface in the male reproductive tract. Based on protein and cDNA sequences for purified WGA16, it is a homologue of human zymogen granule protein 16 (ZG16) belonging to the Jacalin-related lectin (JRL) family in crystal and primary structures. A glycan array shows that WGA16 binds heparin through a basic patch containing Lys-53/Lys-73 residues but not the conventional lectin do

SUBMITTER: Garenaux E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4342464 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature