ArticlePLoS biology2019
Activation of Toll-like receptor 7/8 encoded by the X chromosome alters sperm motility and provides a novel simple technology for sexing sperm.
Article in PLoS biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers.
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Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 108 citations in OpenAlex.
- Female- or male-biased offspring generated by targeted distortion of sex chromosome transmission in the mouse.Genetics · 2026Article
- Article
- Sperm Sexing in Selected Animals and Humans: Methods, Applications, and Future Prospects.Andrology · 2026Review
- Dehydroepiandrosterone activates ADGRG2 to regulate chloride homeostasis and sperm motility via Gs-cAMP pathways.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Article
- Enhancement of Y-bearing sperm enrichment in swamp buffalo using a TLR7/8 agonist (R848) combined with discontinuous Percoll density gradient centrifugation.Veterinary world · 2026Article
- Sex Determination of X and Y Separated Fresh Bull Sperm Using SRY Gene Copy Number Analysis.Veterinary medicine and science · 2026Article
- Undifferentiated spermatogonia modulate their behavior via the expression of basement membrane protein laminin†.Biology of reproduction · 2026Article
- The effect of toll-like receptor 7/8 activation by ligand (R848) on morphometry, proportion of X-Y chromosome-bearing sperm, and sexed sperm quality of bucks.Open veterinary journal · 2026Article
- Toll-like receptors 7 and 8 can be targeted to enrich Y-chromosome sperm in the domestic dog.Reproduction & fertility · 2026Article
- Progress of sex control techniques in mammals†.Biology of reproduction · 2025Review
- Molecular Constraints of Sperm Sex Sorting via TLR7/8 Activation.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Review
- Evidence against the role of toll-like receptors 7 and 8 in sex selection in mice, cattle, and humans.iScience · 2025Article
- Polyvinylpyrrolidone can effectively improve the efficiency of resiquimod in sorting bovine Y sperm.Animal bioscience · 2025Article
- Functions of ectodysplasin A2 receptor (EDA2R) in inducing capacitation of sperm in mice.In vitro cellular & developmental biology. Animal · 2025Article
- Evaluation of aptamers binding ability towards bovine X-specific sperm.Molecular biology reports · 2025Article
- Small RNA and Toll-like receptor interactions: origins and disease mechanisms.Trends in biochemical sciences · 2025Review
- Comparative transcriptome analysis of bull X- and Y-spermatozoa.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Whole-genome bisulfite sequencing of X and Y sperm in Holstein bulls reveals differences in autosomal methylation status.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Deciphering aptamer-protein interactions for bovine sperm sorting through in silico and in vitro studies.Molecular biology reports · 2025Article
- The Surface Proteome of Bovine Unsexed and Sexed Spermatozoa.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In most mammals, the male to female sex ratio of offspring is about 50% because half of the sperm contain either the Y chromosome or X chromosome. In mice, the Y chromosome encodes fewer than 700 genes, whereas the X chromosome encodes over 3,000 genes. Although overall gene expression is lower in sperm than in somatic cells, transcription is activated selectively in round spermatids. By regulating the expression of specific genes, we hypothesized that the X chromosome might exert functional differences in sperm that are usually masked during fertilization. In this study, we found that Toll-like receptors 7/8 (TLR7/8) coding the X chromosome were expressed by approximately 50% of the round spermatids in testis and in approximately 50% of the epididymal sperm. Especially, TLR7 was localized to the tail, and TLR8 was localized to the midpiece. Ligand activation of TLR7/8 selectively suppressed the mobility of the X chromosome-bearing sperm (X-sperm) but not the Y-sperm without altering sperm viability or acrosome formation. The difference in sperm motility allowed for the separation of Y-sperm from X-sperm. Following in vitro fertilization using the ligand-selected high-mobility sperm, 90% of the embryos were XY male. Likewise, 83% of the pups obtained following embryo transfer were XY males. Conversely, the TLR7/8-activated, slow mobility sperm produced embryos and pups that were 81% XX females. Therefore, the functional differences between Y-sperm and X-sperm motility were revealed and related to different gene expression patterns, specifically TLR7/8 on X-sperm.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.