Combined proteomic and in silico approaches to decipher post-meiotic male genome reprogramming in mice

During the post-meiotic maturation of the male gamete, the haploid genome undergoes major structural transitions, leading to its extreme compaction in a unique specialized structure. Although this process is highly conserved and crucial for the production of male gametes suitable for procreation, its molecular basis has remained unexplored for many years. In particular, the factors driving these events remain to be discovered. Our group has combined specific proteomic approaches with in silico analyses of available expression and sequence data in order to identify chromatin-associated factors as candidates involved in post meiotic reprogramming of the male genome of mice. Here we survey these approaches and the major results obtained. The systematic identification and the functional characterization of several of these factors has led to the proposal of the first working models, guiding us toward the understanding of this unique and very fundamental process, which has long remained one of the black boxes of modern biology.