I-15: Assessment of Transcript and Protein Profiles of Infertile Individual May Help to Select Individuals with Low Fertilization Potential Candidate of Artificial Oocyte Activation

Background Following sperm penetration, oocyte is activated by sperm oocyte activating factors (SOAFs) released by sperm. Spermspecific phospholipase C isoform ζ (PLCζ) and post acrosomal WW binding protein (PAWP) are two nominees for the SOAF. PLCζ is located back-to-back with another testis-specific gene called CAPZA3. These two genes share a common bidirectional promoter. In this study we assessed the relative expression of these three genes in fertile individuals, in couples with low and high fertilization rate and also globozoospermic individuals. A significant correlation was observed between the expression of these genes and fertilization rate. We further showed that the expression profiles of these genes are good candidates for selection of individuals with low ability to induce oocyte activation. The selection of these individuals makes these a suitable candidate for artificial oocyte activation. We further showed that through expression analysis of these genes, it is possible to select individuals with genetic mutation in the bidirection promoter region of PLCζ and CAPZA3. MaterialsAndMethods N;Results N;Conclusion N;