New Markers for Predicting Fertility of the Male Gametes in the Post Genomic Era

A number of tests have been proposed to assess male fertility potential, ranging from routine testing by light microscopic method for evaluating semen samples, to screening test for DNA integrity aimed to look at sperm chromatin abnormalities. Spermatozoa are an extremely differentiated cell population, having critical functions for embryo development and heredity, apart from giving haploid paternal DNA to the oocyte. Some aspects are essential to set this specific purpose. The ability of spermatozoa to perform its reproductive function takes place in the spermatogenesis, a highly specialized process depending on multiple factors with effect on male fertility. In the past 30 years, large-scale analyses of transcriptomic and proteomic analyses in mammals have generated a large amount of information on numerous biomolecules involved in spermatogenesis and male germ cell reproductive function. Sperm proteome represents the protein content that spermatozoa needs to survive and work correctly and modifications of sperm proteome play a role in determining functional changes leading to a decrease of reproductive competence into affected spermatozoa. The post-genomic approach consists of different methodologies for concurrently testicular transcriptome studies, protein compositional analysis and metabolomics findings of the spermatozoa in humans.