Sequence analysis of monkey acrosin-trypsin inhibitor transcripts and their abundant expression in the epididymis

Seven independent cross-hybridizing clones have been isolated from a Macaca fascicularis epididymal cDNA library and their inserts shown to correspond to a secreted inhibitor of the sperm serine proteinase, acrosin. Hybridizing transcripts of approx. 0.6 kb have been shown by Northern blot analysis to be considerably more abundant in the epididymis than the testis. This finding is in surprising contrast to a previous report that human acrosin-trypsin inhibitor mRNA predominates in the testis.