Differential RNA fingerprinting as a tool in the analysis of spermatozoal gene expression

The apparent decline in human male fertility and the concomitantincrease in testicular pathology have prompted discussion ofthe underlying molecular mechanisms which may underpin theseobservations. While monitoring the expression of protamlne-2genes in the human ejaculate, we found a representative complementof sperm mRNAs following sequence-independent amplificationof reverse-transcribed cDNAs with the polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR). The revelation of unique sperm-derived PCR productsusing this method suggests that it should now be possible toinvestigate gene expression in human spermatogenesis by differentialRNA fingerprinting of ejaculate spermatozoa. The Identificationof molecular markers and the corresponding genes associatedwith male Infertility will be considerably enhanced by theseinvestigations while obviating the requirement for invasivebiopsy.