China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2020, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (8): 2536-2543.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2020.08.022

• Genetics and Breeding • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Expression of OPN in Germ Cells of Landrace Boar and Its Correlation with Reproductive Performance

CHEN Yun1, WANG Kai1, ZHOU Lele1, HUANG Jianhao1, YE Chao2, WEI Hengxi1, LI Li1, ZHANG Shouquan1   

  1. 1. National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China;
    2. Guangdong Wens Foodstuff Group Co., Ltd., Xinxing 527439, China
  • Received:2020-02-29 Online:2020-08-20 Published:2020-08-15

Abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and localization of osteopontin (OPN) in germ cells of Landrace boars,and their correlations with boar reproductive performance.The semen and testis in different age stages (3-day-old,3-month-old,6-month-old,and 12-month-old) from Landrace boars were collected,followed with the expression levels of OPN protein in semen and testis,and its location in boar testis cells detected by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry(IHC),respectively.At the same time,according to the standard of breeding parity ≥ 20 births and three times of breeding semen from the same boar,17 Landrace boars were selected along with their semen collected and evaluated.Further,productive performance data of the 1 388 boar-paired sows were calculated for evaluating the performance of those 17 breeding boars by total number born per litter (TNB),number born alive per litter (NBA),farrowing rate (FR) and fecundity.To evaluated the semen of those 17 breeding boars,sperm and seminal plasma were separated by low-temperature centrifugation of semen.Seminal plasma protein was extracted with acetone method,and sperm protein was extracted with Lysis buffer method.BCA (Bicinchoninic acid) and ELISA were used to detect OPN contention in sperm and seminal plasma,for subsequent correlation analysis between OPN protein and boar reproductive performance by SPSS software.Consequently,Western blotting results showed that two forms of OPN protein(67.4 and 33.7 ku) could be observed in sperm,seminal plasma and testis of Landrace boars at all age stages,and 67.4 ku form was highest expressed in testis of 3-month-old boars;IHC results showed that OPN were expressed in primary spermatocytes,secondary spermatocytes and sperm cells,but not in spermatogonia,sertoli cells and interstitial cells;BCA and ELISA results showed that the concentration of OPN protein in sperm was 7 times higher than that in seminal plasma (P<0.05).Additionally,correlation analysis between OPN protein and boar reproductive performance indicated the OPN protein in semen was significantly positively correlated with NBA (P<0.05).Collectively,our study suggested that OPN expresses in testis (at all age stages),sperm and seminal plasma of Landrace boars,and it might concern the reproductive performance of boars,thereby laying a foundation for the mechanism study of OPN protein in boar fertility.

Key words: Landrace boar; testis; reproductive performance; OPN

CLC Number: