Protein synthesis in mouse spermatozoa

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to characterize protein synthesis by mature mouse sperm. It was found that these sperm incorporated amino acids linearly over a period of 3 h and that incorporation was inhibited by incubation of sperm at 4° C and by chloramphenicol but not inhibited by cycloheximide. Labeled proteins from control and chloramphenicol-inhibited sperm were displayed on electrophoretic gels, and the labeled protein bands were characterized with respect to molecular weight and degree of inhibition. Autoradiography of the labeled sperm revealed that most grains were localized over the sperm midpiece. These data indicate that the protein synthesis of mouse sperm is mitochondrial in nature.