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Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Recording Electrical Currents across the Plasma Membrane of Mammalian Sperm Cells
Published on: February 14, 2021
Evolutionary genomics reveals lineage-specific gene loss and rapid evolution of a sperm-specific ion channel complex:
Xinjiang Cai1, David E Clapham
1Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA. xinjiang.cai@duke.edu
Abstract:
The mammalian CatSper ion channel family consists of four sperm-specific voltage-gated Ca2+ channels that are crucial for sperm hyperactivation and male fertility. All four CatSper subunits are believed to assemble into a heteromultimeric channel complex, together with an auxiliary subunit, CatSperbeta. Here, we report a comprehensive comparative genomics study and evolutionary analysis of CatSpers and CatSperbeta, with important correlation to physiological significance of molecular evolution of the CatSper channel complex. The development of the CatSper channel complex with four CatSpers and CatSperbeta originated as early as primitive metazoans such as the Cnidarian Nematostella vectensis. Comparative genomics revealed extensive lineage-specific gene loss of all four CatSpers and CatSperbeta through metazoan evolution, especially in vertebrates. The CatSper channel complex underwent rapid evolution and functional divergence, while distinct evolutionary constraints appear to have acted on different domains and specific sites of the four CatSper genes. These results reveal unique evolutionary characteristics of sperm-specific Ca2+ channels and their adaptation to sperm biology through metazoan evolution.
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