Research Progress on Protein Post-Translational Modifications during Spermatogenesis

Spermatogenesis is a highly complicated biological process with precise regulation. Proteins are the final functional executors of life activities, and protein PTMs (post-translational modifications) exert important regulatory functions. Spermatogenesis involves multiple protein post-translational modifications, such as phosphorylation, acetylation and ubiquitination, etc. Aberrant protein PTMs can cause disorders of spermatogenesis, or even lead to infertility in severe cases. With the advance of proteomic technologies, using clinical infertile samples and animal models, it is possible to systematically analyze the dynamic regulation and function of protein PTMs during each stage of spermatogenesis and further unveil the molecular mechanisms of spermatogenesis and the pathogenesis of male infertility. This paper provides a review of the recent progress on the studies of protein PTMs in spermatogenesis, and the roles of protein PTMs in clinical diseases, such as oligozoospermia, asthenozoospermia and teratozoospermia.