LOCALIZATION AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF AN OLIGOSACCHARIDE O-LINKED TO BOVINE PDC-109 - QUANTITATION OF THE GLYCOPROTEIN IN SEMINALPLASMA AND ON THE SURFACE OF EJACULATED AND CAPACITATED SPERMATOZOA
Jj. Calvete et al., LOCALIZATION AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF AN OLIGOSACCHARIDE O-LINKED TO BOVINE PDC-109 - QUANTITATION OF THE GLYCOPROTEIN IN SEMINALPLASMA AND ON THE SURFACE OF EJACULATED AND CAPACITATED SPERMATOZOA, FEBS letters, 350(2-3), 1994, pp. 203-206
PDC-109 (13 kDa) is the most abundant component, and the major heparin
-binding protein, of bovine (Bos taurus) seminal plasma. Here, we show
that PDC-109 contains a single O-linked oligosaccharide (NeuNAc alpha
(2-6)-Gal beta(1-3)-GalNAc-) attached to Thr(11). Immunoquantitation o
f PDC-109 indicates that its concentration in seminal plasma is 15-20
mg/ml. Though PDC-109 is not present on epididymal sperm, ejaculated s
permatozoa on average are coated with (9.5 +/- 0.3) x 10(6) molecules
of PDC-109/cell. This value remained constant in swim-up sperm and dec
reased to (7.7 +/- 0.4) x 10(6)/spermatozoon after incubation for 24 h
in capacitation medium at 39 degrees C. These data substantiate the h
ypothesis that PDC-109 may be one of the seminal plasma components tha
t enhance the fertilizing capacity of bull spermatozoa upon interactio
n with heparin-like glycosaminoglycans present in the female genital t
ract.