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Impaired transcription of human endogenous retroviruses in the sperm with exception of syncytin 1: short communication

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Abstract

Background

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), remnants of ancestral infections, represent 8% of the human genome. HERVs are co-opted for important physiological functions during embryogenesis; however, little is known about their expression in human gametes. We evaluated the transcriptional levels of several retroviral sequences in human spermatozoa.

Methods and results

We assessed, through a Real-Time PCR assay, the transcription levels of the pol genes of HERV-H, -K and -W families and of env genes of syncytin (Syn)1 and Syn2 in the spermatozoa from 8 normospermic subjects. The entity and distribution of their expressions were compared to values found in white blood cells (WBCs) from 16 healthy volunteers. The level of HERV transcripts was significantly lower in spermatozoa than in WBCs for HERV-H-pol, HERV-K-pol, HERV-W-pol, and Syn2.In contrast, the level of expression of Syn1 in the sperm was similar to that found in WBCs and it was significantly higher than the mRNA concentrations of other HERV genes in spermatozoa.

Conclusions

Our findings show, for the first time, the presence of several retroviral mRNAs in the sperm, although in low amounts. The higher concentration of Syn1 suggests that it could play a key role in the fusion process between gametes during fertilization and, perhaps, be involved in embryo development. Further studies could clarify whether aberrant HERV expressions, in particular of Syn1, negatively affect fertilization and embryo growth and whether sperm manipulation procedures, such as cryopreservation, may potentially influence HERV transcription in the human male gamete.

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Funding

This work was supported by Institutional grant (ex60%) number RiLo_Berm 2018 and by MIUR in the PhD (for S.C.) of the University of Turin, Italy.

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Author notes

  1. Massimiliano Bergallo and Stefano Canosa have contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Massimiliano Bergallo, Ilaria Galliano, Valentina Daprà, Paola Montanari & Pier-Angelo Tovo

  2. Obstetrics and Gynecology 1U, Physiopathology of Reproduction and IVF Unit, Department of Surgical Sciences, S. Anna Hospital, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

    Stefano Canosa, Marta Sestero, Gianluca Gennarelli, Chiara Benedetto & Alberto Revelli

Authors
  1. Massimiliano Bergallo
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  2. Stefano Canosa
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  3. Ilaria Galliano
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  4. Valentina Daprà
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  5. Paola Montanari
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  6. Marta Sestero
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  7. Gianluca Gennarelli
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  8. Chiara Benedetto
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  9. Alberto Revelli
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  10. Pier-Angelo Tovo
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Contributions

PT and AR conceived the study; MS enrolled the patients; SC was responsible for collection, analysis, and storage of sperm samples; VD, PM, and IG. performed laboratory experiments. MB, SC, and PT contributed in writing and editing the manuscript; GG, CB and AR contributed in the final interpretation of data and editing the manuscript. All authors gave their final approval.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stefano Canosa.

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All the authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research reported.

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Bergallo, M., Canosa, S., Galliano, I. et al. Impaired transcription of human endogenous retroviruses in the sperm with exception of syncytin 1: short communication. Mol Biol Rep 48, 5803–5808 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06577-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06577-6

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