Abstract
Mitochondria, acting as the energy metabolism factory, participate in many key biological processes, including the maintenance of sperm viability. Mitochondria-related microRNA (miRNA), encoded by nuclear genome or mitochondrial genome, may play an important regulatory role in the control of mitochondrial function. To investigate the potential role of mitochondria-related miRNAs in asthenozoospermia, we adopted a strategy consisting of initial screening by TaqMan Low Density Array (TLDA) and further validation with quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Validation of the profiling results was conducted in two independent phases. Eventually, two seminal plasma miRNAs (sp-miRs) (miR-101-3p, let-7b-5p) were found to be significantly decreased, while sp-miR-151a-5p was significantly increased in severe asthenozoospermia cases compared with healthy controls. To further study their potential roles in asthenozoospermia, we then evaluated mitochondrial function of GC-2 cells transfected with these potentially functional miRNAs. Our results demonstrated that transfection with miR-151a-5p mimics decreased the mitochondrial respiratory activity. Besides, Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) level was decreased when transfected with miR-151a-5p mimics. In addition, Cytochrome b (Cytb) mRNA and protein levels were also decreased when miR-151a-5p was overexpressed. These results indicate that miR-151a-5p may participate in the regulation of cellular respiration and ATP production through targeting Cytb.
Highlights
Mitochondria, the energy metabolism factory in the cell, participates in generating Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) through the respiratory chain to provide energy for the cellular activities
MiR-181c translocates into mitochondria and regulates mitochondrial energy metabolism by targeting mt-COX1 mRNA, which is the product of the mitochondrial genome
To obtain an expression profile of sp-miRNAs that was specific for severe asthenozoospermia, we employed a strategy that included the initial screening by TaqMan Low Density Array (TLDA) chips and the validation by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) on an individual basis (Fig. 1)
Summary
Mitochondria, the energy metabolism factory in the cell, participates in generating Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) through the respiratory chain to provide energy for the cellular activities. Several studies have demonstrated that miRNAs, encoded by nuclear genome or mitochondrial genome, regulate nuclear genome encoding mitochondria-related proteins, and could translocate into the mitochondria and regulate mitochondrial genome expression[9,10,11,12,13,14]. Mitochondria-related miRNAs have been reported to be associated with multiple diseases, their roles in male infertility, especially asthenozoospermia, are still not clear. To systematically and comprehensively investigate the roles of mitochondria-related miRNAs in semen plasma in asthenozoospermia, we employed a strategy consisting of initial screening by TaqMan Low Density Array (TLDA) and further validation with quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). To further study the potential roles of selected differentially expressed sp-miRs involved in asthenozoospermia, we evaluated mitochondrial function of GC-2 cells transfected with these sp-miRs through testing mitochondrial respiratory activity and ATP production
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