Sperm mobility denotes the net movement of a sperm population. Previous work
implicated mitochondrial function as a basis underlying phenotypic variation in this
quantitative trait. Our objective was to determine if mitochondrial function was indeed
critical to expression of phenotype. Phenotype was assigned to roosters within a random
bred population (n=242). A representative subpopulation (n=40) was used to correlate
sperm mobility with oxygen consumption (r=0.83). In contrast, sperm mobility was
independent of mitochondrial helix length in a sample of males (n=7) representing the
range of phenotype observed within the population. Thus, mitochondrial function rather
than number appeared to be critical to expression of phenotype. This hypothesis was
tested by ultrastructural analysis of sperm midpieces. Males from the lower and upper
tails of the distribution were characterized with high and low proportions of sperm
containing aberrant mitochondria in 47 and 4% of the cells respectively. When sperm
from average males were allowed to segregate into immobile and mobile subpopulations,
40% of immobile sperm contained aberrant mitochondria. In contrast, only 9% of sperm
from the same males contained aberrant mitochondria in non-segregated populations. In
conclusion, the mitochoridrion is an organelle that may account for phenotypic
differences in sperm mobility. / Graduation date: 2002
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/32425 |
| Date | 05 July 2001 |
| Creators | Mahlum, Lisa Michelle |
| Contributors | Froman, David P. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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