Sperm morphometry is affected by increased inbreeding in the Retinta cattle breed: A molecular approach

TERÁN, ESTER; AZCONA, FLORENCIA; RAMÓN, MANUEL; MOLINA, ANTONIO; DORADO, JESÚS; HIDALGO, MANUEL; ROSS, PABLO; GOSZCZYNSKI, DANIEL; DEMYDA PEYRÁS, SEBASTIÁN

MOLECULAR REPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

WILEY-LISS, DIV JOHN WILEY & SONS INC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2021

1040-452X

The effect of inbreeding depression on sperm motility is well documented, but itsinfluence on sperm morphometry has been scarcely examined to date. Here, wecombined the use of computer‐assisted sperm morphometry analysis (CASMA) witha SNP‐based genomic approach to determine and characterize the effect of inbreedingon the sperm shape of a highly inbred cattle population. We determinedseven morphometric parameters on frozen‐thawed sperm samples of 57 Retintabulls: length (L, μm), width (W, μm), area (A, μm2), perimeter (P, μm), ellipticity (ELI;L/W), elongation (L−W)/(L +W) and perimeter‐to‐area shape factor (p2a; P2/4 ×π × A). The comparison of highly inbred (HI) and lowly inbreed (LI) individualsbased on runs of homozygosity (ROH) inbreeding values (FROH) showed no differencesbetween groups. An additional two‐step unsupervised sperm subpopulationanalysis based on morphometric parameters showed significant differences in theabundance of different sperm subpopulations between groups (p < 0.05). This analysisrevealed that HI bulls harbored a higher percentage of narrow‐head sperm asopposed to the higher percentage of large‐ and round‐headed sperm detected in LI.A further genomic characterization revealed 23 regions differentially affected byinbreeding in both groups, detecting six genes (SPAG6, ARMC3, PARK7, VAMP3,DYNLRB2, and PHF7) previously related to different spermatogenesis‐associatedprocesses.