美国科学家说他们从线虫体内，找出了一种新蛋白对健康的精子产生致命的伤害。
??加州大学伯克利分校的Barbara Meyer和他的同事们说精子染色质的质量标准－DNA围绕着蛋白缠绕在一起－这是一个评定男性不育的重要指标。Meyer的研究小组想要通过测量染色质的结构来鉴定那些对精子染色质很重要的蛋白。
??他们纯化了那些线虫体内那些重要的和精子染色质相关的蛋白，并通过RNA干扰来测试了所有已鉴定的132个蛋白的功能。
??研究小组发现了一些对DNA包装，染色体分离和富集至关重要的蛋白。
??在一些情况下，老鼠如果体内失去的相似的蛋白后，就会引起老鼠不育。这些已知的蛋白可以帮助鉴定不育的原因以及对男性不育进行诊断，对男性避孕提供帮助。这些发现发表在《自然》杂志的在线网站。
英文原文：
Worm Sperm Gives Clue to Male Infertility
U.S. scientists say they have used the nematode worm to identify a raft of new proteins vital for healthy sperm production.
Barbara Meyer and colleagues at the University of California-Berkeley said the quality of sperm chromatin -- DNA packaged with associated proteins -- is known to be an important indicator of male fertility. Meyer's team wanted to identify proteins important for sperm chromatin structure.
They purified those proteins uniquely and richly associated with sperm chromatin in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans and tested their function using RNA interference of all 132 proteins identified.
The team found some were vital for DNA packaging, chromosome segregation and fertility.
In some cases, it's already known that disabling the equivalent proteins in mice causes male sterility. That list of proteins may help identify causes of and diagnostic tests for unexplained male infertility in humans or provide targets for male contraceptives.
The findings appear online ahead of publication in a future issue of the journal Nature.
