Glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI)-linked proteins, which are involved in post-testicular maturation of sperm and have a role in fertilization, are acquired on the sperm surface from both vesicular and membrane-free soluble fractions of epididymal luminal fluid (LF) and uterine LF. Herein, we investigate the mechanism of uptake of these proteins from the soluble fraction of LFs using sperm adhesion molecule 1 (SPAM1) as a model. Ultracentrifugation and native Western blot analysis of the soluble fraction revealed that SPAM1 is present in low-molecular-weight (monomeric) and high-molecular-weight (oligomeric) complexes. The latter are incapable of transferring SPAM1 and may serve to produce monomers. Monomers are stabilized by hydrophobic interactions with clusterin (CLU), a lipid carrier that is abundantly expressed in LFs. We show that CLU is involved in the transfer of SPAM1 monomers, whose delivery was decreased by anti-CLU antibody under normal and apolipoprotein-enhanced conditions. Coimmunoprecipitation revealed an intimate association of CLU with SPAM1. Both plasma and recombinant CLU had a dose-related effect on transfer efficiency: high concentrations reduced and low concentrations enhanced delivery of SPAM1 to human and mouse sperm membranes, reflecting physiological states in the epididymal tract. We propose a lipid exchange model (akin to the lipid-poor model for cholesterol efflux) for the delivery of GPI-linked proteins to sperm membranes via CLU. Our investigation defines specific conditions for membrane-free GPI-linked protein transfer in vitro and could lead to technology for improving fertility or treating sperm pathology by the addition of relevant GPI-linked proteins critical for successful fertilization in humans and domestic animals.
BACKGROUND:
The multifunctional glycoprotein clusterin has been associated with late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). Further investigation to define the role of clusterin in AD phenotypes would be aided by the development of techniques to quantify level, potential post-translational modifications, and isoforms of clusterin. We have developed a quantitative technique based on multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry to measure clusterin in human postmortem brain tissues.
RESULTS:
A stable isotope-labeled concatenated peptide (QconCAT) bearing selected peptides from clusterin was expressed with an in vitro translation system and purified. This clusterin QconCAT was validated for use as an internal standard for clusterin quantification using MRM mass spectrometry. Measurements were performed on the human postmortem frontal and temporal cortex from control and severe AD cases. During brain tissues processing, 1% SDS was used in the homogenization buffer to preserve potential post-translational modifications of clusterin. However, MRM quantifications in the brain did not suggest phosphorylation of Thr(393), Ser(394), and Ser(396) residues reported for clusterin in serum. MRM quantifications in the frontal cortex demonstrated significantly higher (P < 0.01) level of clusterin in severe AD group (39.1 ± 9.1 pmol/mg tissue protein) in comparison to control group (25.4 ± 4.4 pmol/mg tissue protein). In the temporal cortex, the clusterin levels were not significantly different, 29.0 ± 7.9 pmol/mg tissue protein and 28.0 ± 8.4 pmol/mg tissue protein in control and severe AD groups, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS:
The proposed protocol is a universal quantitative technique to assess expression level of clusterin. It is expected that application of this protocol to quantification of various clusterin isoforms and potential post-translational modifications will be helpful in addressing the role of clusterin in AD.
