Department or Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Nathallie Sandi-Monroy
Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany; Kinderwunsch-Zentrum, Ulm, Germany
Nargis Kohgadai
Department or Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Shariq M Usmani
The Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, United States
Jason Neidleman
Department or Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Mauricio Montano
Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Ludger Ständker
Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany; Core Facility Functional Peptidomics, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
Annika Röcker
Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
Marielle Cavrois
Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Jared Rosen
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, United States
Kara Marson
HIV / AIDS Division, San Francisco General Hospital, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
James F Smith
Department or Urology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Christopher D Pilcher
HIV / AIDS Division, San Francisco General Hospital, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
Friedrich Gagsteiger
Kinderwunsch-Zentrum, Ulm, Germany
Olena Sakk
Core Facility Transgenic Mice, Medical Faculty, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
Michael O’Rand
Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, United States
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, United States
Frank Kirchhoff
Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
Jan Münch
Institute of Molecular Virology, Ulm University Medical Center, Ulm, Germany
Warner C Greene
Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, United States
Unlike other human biological fluids, semen contains multiple types of amyloid fibrils in the absence of disease. These fibrils enhance HIV infection by promoting viral fusion to cellular targets, but their natural function remained unknown. The similarities shared between HIV fusion to host cell and sperm fusion to oocyte led us to examine whether these fibrils promote fertilization. Surprisingly, the fibrils inhibited fertilization by immobilizing sperm. Interestingly, however, this immobilization facilitated uptake and clearance of sperm by macrophages, which are known to infiltrate the female reproductive tract (FRT) following semen exposure. In the presence of semen fibrils, damaged and apoptotic sperm were more rapidly phagocytosed than healthy ones, suggesting that deposition of semen fibrils in the lower FRT facilitates clearance of poor-quality sperm. Our findings suggest that amyloid fibrils in semen may play a role in reproduction by participating in sperm selection and facilitating the rapid removal of sperm antigens.
