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Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Fluorimetric Techniques for the Assessment of Sperm Membranes
Published on: November 28, 2018
The Sperm Proteome of the Echiuran Urechis unicinctus (Annelida, Echiura)
Zhenkui Qin1, Yanjie Zhang2,3, Huawei Mu4
1Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Marine Genetics and Breeding, College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, 266003 Qingdao, Shandong, China.
Abstract:
Sperm proteins presumably play critical roles in reproduction, but in many non-model animals their identities are unknown. A total of 147 sperm proteins from the echiuran worm Urechis unicinctus, the first sperm proteome in the phylum Annelida, are reported. The echiuran sperm proteome can be classified into diverse functional groups: energy metabolism (31%), protein synthesis and degradation (18%), spermatogenesis and sperm motility (12%), signal pathway (11%), ion channel and transport proteins (6%), cytoskeleton (4%), immunity and stress responses (3%), and fertilization (1%). These results will facilitate studies of mechanisms of fertilization in echiurans, as well as comparative studies of reproduction and evolution across lophotrochozoans. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD009176.
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