Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 28, 2025

Recording Electrical Currents across the Plasma Membrane of Mammalian Sperm Cells
Published on: February 14, 2021
TRiC Is a Structural Component of Mammalian Sperm Axonemes
Alan Brown1, Miguel Ricardo Leung2,3, Tzviya Zeev-Ben-Mordehai3
1Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
None:
The TRiC chaperonin is responsible for folding ~5%-10% of the proteome in eukaryotic cells. Our recent cryo-electron microscopy studies of axonemes from diverse mammalian cell types led to the surprising discovery that a fully assembled TRiC chaperonin is a structural component of mammalian sperm flagella, where it is tethered to the radial spokes of doublet microtubules. In contrast, axoneme-tethered TRiC is not observed in mammalian epithelial cilia, nor in any of the non-mammalian sperm flagella studied to date. In this Perspective, we explore several hypotheses for the potential functions of axoneme-tethered TRiC in mature sperm.
More Related Videos
07:40Measuring Properties of the Membrane Periodic Skeleton of the Axon Initial Segment using 3D-Structured Illumination Microscopy 3D-SIM
Published on: February 11, 2022
09:14Super-Resolution Microscopy of the Synaptonemal Complex Within the Caenorhabditis elegans Germline
Published on: September 13, 2022
Related Concept Videos
Microtubules in Cell Motility
Assembly of Complex Microtubule Structures
Microtubules
The Mitotic Spindle
The bipolar configuration of the mitotic spindle facilitates chromosomal segregation, preparing the cell for division. One mechanism that ensures...
Sperm Structure and Semen Composition
Spindle Assembly
In most cells, centrosomes are the primary microtubule nucleation centers. In the centrosome-mediated pathway, the G2-prophase transition triggers centrosome maturation and increased microtubule nucleation. Progressive nucleation results in a...