The Mouse Epididymal Amyloid Matrix: A Mammalian Counterpart of a Bacterial Biofilm

Abstract

The mouse epididymis is a long tubule connecting the testis to the vas deferens. Its primary functions are to mature spermatozoa into motile and fertile cells and to protect them from pathogens that ascend the male tract. We previously demonstrated that a functional extracellular amyloid matrix surrounds spermatozoa in the epididymal lumen and has host defense functions; properties not unlike that of an extracellular biofilm that surrounds and protects a bacterial community. Here we show the epididymal amyloid matrix also structurally resembles a biofilm by containing eDNA, eRNA, and mucin-like polysaccharides. Further these structural components exhibit comparable behaviors and perform functions like their counterparts in bacterial biofilms. Our studies suggest that nature has used the ancient building blocks of bacterial biofilms to form an analogous structure that nurtures and protects the mammalian male germline.