{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,14]],"date-time":"2026-07-14T12:21:53Z","timestamp":1784031713409,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,21]],"date-time":"2022-08-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1661040000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the Project of Swine Innovation Team in Guangdong Modern Agricultural Research System","award":["2020KJ126"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2020KJ126"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In mammals, \u03b2-defensins have been reported to play pivotal roles in sperm protection and fertilization. However, the function and mechanism of porcine \u03b2-defensin 129 (pBD129) in the sperm remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that pBD129 is a glycosylated protein and broadly exists in accessory sex glands and coats the sperm surface. We inhibited the pBD129 protein on the sperm surface with an anti-pBD129 antibody and found that sperm motility was not significantly affected; however, sperm acrosome integrity and tyrosine phosphorylation levels increased significantly with time (p &lt; 0.05) during capacitation. These changes were accompanied by an increase in sperm Ca2+ influx, resulting in a significantly reduced in vitro fertilization cleavage rate (p &lt; 0.05). Further investigation revealed that treatment with recombinant pBD129 markedly restored the sperm motility in semen contaminated with Escherichia coli. The results suggest that pBD129 is not only associated with poor sperm motility after genital tract infection but can also protect the spermatozoa from premature capacitation, which may be beneficial for semen preservation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms23169441","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,21]],"date-time":"2022-08-21T22:23:13Z","timestamp":1661120593000},"page":"9441","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Involvement of Porcine \u03b2-Defensin 129 in Sperm Capacitation and Rescue of Poor Sperm in Genital Tract Infection"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"given":"Fanwen","family":"Zeng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science of South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mingming","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science of South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ju","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science of South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chengde","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science of South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xueqing","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science of South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Li","family":"Meng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science of South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Li","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science of South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0314-2357","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hengxi","family":"Wei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science of South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shouquan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Engineering Research Center for Breeding Swine Industry, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Agro-Animal Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Animal Science of South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"660","DOI":"10.1093\/humupd\/dmx021","article-title":"The diagnosis of male infertility: An analysis of the evidence to support the development of global WHO guidance-challenges and future research opportunities","volume":"23","author":"Barratt","year":"2017","journal-title":"Hum. 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