Purification and characterization of a motility initiating protein from caprine epididymal plasma.

Numerous reports have appeared on the occurrence of undefined protein factors in male reproductive fluids that promote motility of mature sperm and initiate forward motility in the immature (immotile) caput-epididymal sperm. This study reports for the first time purification to apparent homogeneity of a motility initiating protein (MIP) from epididymal plasma and its characterization using the caprine sperm model. It is a 125 kDa (approximately) dimeric protein made up of two subunits: 70 and 54 kDa.