Seminal plasma proteins are relevant for sperm functionality and some appear responsible for establishing sperm interactions with the various environments along the female genital tract towards the oocyte. In recent years, research has focused on characterizing the role of these proteins in the context of reproductive biology, fertility diagnostics and treatment of related problems. Herein, we focus on the main protein of bovine seminal plasma, PDC-109 (BSP-A1/-A2), which by virtue of its lectin properties is involved in fertilization. By means of surface plasmon resonance, the interaction of PDC-109 with a panel of the most relevant glycosidic epitopes of mammals has been qualitatively and quantitatively characterized, and a higher affinity for carbohydrates containing fucose has been observed, in line with previous studies. Additionally, using the orthogonal technique of Carbohydrate REcognition Domain EXcision-Mass Spectrometry (CREDEX-MS), the recognition domain of the interaction complexes between PDC-109 and all fucosylated disaccharides [(Fuc-α1,(3,4,6)-GlcNAc)] has been defined, revealing the specific glycotope and the peptide domain likely to act as the PDC-109 carbohydrate binding site.

This work was supported by grants BIO2009-08983 from MICINN (to R.G.G.), SAF2011-24899, AGL 2015-70159-P [FEDER] from MINECO (to Manuel Avilés) and AGL 2014-52395-C2-2-R [FEDER] from MINECO, and SGR2009 - 00492 from Generalitat de Catalunya (to David Andreu). PDC-109, purified from bull seminal plasma, was kindly donated by Juan José Calvete.