Special Issue on Cell Biology and Genetics of Sperm
(Guest editors: R John Aitken and Ralf R Henkel)
In this Special Issue of Asian Journal of Andrology, we acknowledge these technical developments by highlighting contributions that have been made by some of the pioneers of sperm cell ’omics. Mark Baker,1 for example, has been responsible for developing the first detailed proteomic profiles of human, rat and mouse spermatozoa and, in so doing, has created a resource that can be used by all gamete biologists to further their research on the cell biology of spermatozoa. Mark has also pioneered the use of label free proteomics to determine how the protein structure of mammalian spermatozoa changes in concert with their physiological status during epididymal transit or capacitation. These studies have opened up new avenues of research on the roles played by membrane receptors, kinases and specific chaperones in the control of sperm function. Moreover, technologies are now available that allow us to drill down into specific subsets of proteins such as the phosphoproteome or the glycome that will further elucidate the molecular underpinnings of normal and pathological sperm function.