Spatial Organization of the Sperm Cell Glycoproteome

Abstract

Sperm cells are terminally differentiated cells that are essential for reproduction in sexually reproducing species. Consistent with their highly specialized function, sperm cells harbor a unique proteome containing many proteins not expressed in somatic cells. In contrast, the post-translational landscape of the sperm proteome remains largely unexplored, limiting our understanding of how modifications such as glycosylation impact sperm function and sperm-egg interactions. Here, we used glycopeptide-centric glycoproteomics to comprehensively characterize protein N-glycosylation in sperm from three mammalian species, revealing clear conservation of glycosylation profiles. We find that glycosy..