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Xia M, Xia J, Niu C, Zhong Y, Ge T, Ding Y, Zheng Y. Testis-expressed protein 33 is not essential for spermiogenesis and fertility in mice. Mol Med Rep 2021; 23:317. [PMID: 33760102 PMCID: PMC7974414 DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2021.11956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2020] [Accepted: 11/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Gene expression analyses have revealed that there are >2,300 testis-enriched genes in mice, and gene knockout models have shown that a number of them are responsible for male fertility. However, the functions of numerous genes have yet to be clarified. The aim of the present study was to identify the expression pattern of testis-expressed protein 33 (TEX33) in mice and explore the role of TEX33 in male reproduction. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blot assays were used to investigate the mRNA and protein levels of TEX33 in mouse testes during the first wave of spermatogenesis. Immunofluorescence analysis was also performed to identify the cellular and structural localization of TEX33 protein in the testes. Tex33 knockout mice were generated by CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing. Histological analysis with hematoxylin and eosin or periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining, computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) and fertility testing, were also carried out to evaluate the effect of TEX33 on mouse spermiogenesis and male reproduction. The results showed that Tex33 mRNA and protein were exclusively expressed in mouse testes and were first detected on postnatal days 21–28 (spermiogenesis phase); their expression then remained into adulthood. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that TEX33 protein was located in the spermatids and sperm within the seminiferous tubules of the mouse testes, and exhibited specific localization to the acrosome, flagellum and manchette during spermiogenesis. These results suggested that TEX33 may play a role in mouse spermiogenesis. However, Tex33 knockout mice presented no detectable difference in testis-to-body weight ratios when compared with wild-type mice. PAS staining and CASA revealed that spermatogenesis and sperm quality were normal in mice lacking Tex33. In addition, fertility testing suggested that the Tex33 knockout mice had normal reproductive functions. In summary, the findings of the present study indicate that TEX33 is associated with spermiogenesis but is not essential for sperm development and male fertility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengmeng Xia
- Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China
| | - Jing Xia
- Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China
| | - Changmin Niu
- Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China
| | - Yanan Zhong
- Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China
| | - Tingting Ge
- Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China
| | - Yue Ding
- Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China
| | - Ying Zheng
- Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China
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Devlin DJ, Agrawal Zaneveld S, Nozawa K, Han X, Moye AR, Liang Q, Harnish JM, Matzuk MM, Chen R. Knockout of mouse receptor accessory protein 6 leads to sperm function and morphology defects†. Biol Reprod 2020; 102:1234-1247. [PMID: 32101290 DOI: 10.1093/biolre/ioaa024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2019] [Revised: 12/31/2019] [Accepted: 05/26/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Receptor accessory protein 6 (REEP6) is a member of the REEP/Ypt-interacting protein family that we recently identified as essential for normal endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis and protein trafficking in the retina of mice and humans. Interestingly, in addition to the loss of REEP6 in our knockout (KO) mouse model recapitulating the retinal degeneration of humans with REEP6 mutations causing retinitis pigmentosa (RP), we also found that male mice are sterile. Herein, we characterize the infertility caused by loss of Reep6. Expression of both Reep6 mRNA transcripts is present in the testis; however, isoform 1 becomes overexpressed during spermiogenesis. In vitro fertilization assays reveal that Reep6 KO spermatozoa are able to bind the zona pellucida but are only able to fertilize oocytes lacking the zona pellucida. Although spermatogenesis appears normal in KO mice, cauda epididymal spermatozoa have severe motility defects and variable morphological abnormalities, including bent or absent tails. Immunofluorescent staining reveals that REEP6 expression first appears in stage IV tubules within step 15 spermatids, and REEP6 localizes to the connecting piece, midpiece, and annulus of mature spermatozoa. These data reveal an important role for REEP6 in sperm motility and morphology and is the first reported function for a REEP protein in reproductive processes. Additionally, this work identifies a new gene potentially responsible for human infertility and has implications for patients with RP harboring mutations in REEP6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darius J Devlin
- Interdepartmental Program in Translational Biology & Molecular Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.,Department of Pathology & Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Smriti Agrawal Zaneveld
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.,Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Kaori Nozawa
- Department of Pathology & Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.,Center for Drug Discovery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Xiao Han
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.,Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.,Reproductive Medical Center, People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Abigail R Moye
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Qingnan Liang
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.,Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.,Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Jacob Michael Harnish
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Martin M Matzuk
- Department of Pathology & Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.,Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.,Center for Drug Discovery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Rui Chen
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.,Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
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Ito C, Akutsu H, Yao R, Yoshida K, Yamatoya K, Mutoh T, Makino T, Aoyama K, Ishikawa H, Kunimoto K, Tsukita S, Noda T, Kikkawa M, Toshimori K. Odf2 haploinsufficiency causes a new type of decapitated and decaudated spermatozoa, Odf2-DDS, in mice. Sci Rep 2019; 9:14249. [PMID: 31582806 PMCID: PMC6776547 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-50516-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2019] [Accepted: 09/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Outer dense fibre 2 (Odf2 or ODF2) is a cytoskeletal protein required for flagella (tail)-beating and stability to transport sperm cells from testes to the eggs. There are infertile males, including human patients, who have a high percentage of decapitated and decaudated spermatozoa (DDS), whose semen contains abnormal spermatozoa with tailless heads and headless tails due to head-neck separation. DDS is untreatable in reproductive medicine. We report for the first time a new type of Odf2-DDS in heterozygous mutant Odf2+/- mice. Odf2+/- males were infertile due to haploinsufficiency caused by heterozygous deletion of the Odf2 gene, encoding the Odf2 proteins. Odf2 haploinsufficiency induced sperm neck-midpiece separation, a new type of head-tail separation, leading to the generation of headneck sperm cells or headnecks composed of heads with necks and neckless tails composed of only the main parts of tails. The headnecks were immotile but alive and capable of producing offspring by intracytoplasmic headneck sperm injection (ICSI). The neckless tails were motile and could induce capacitation but had no significant forward motility. Further studies are necessary to show that ICSI in humans, using headneck sperm cells, is viable and could be an alternative for infertile patients suffering from Odf2-DDS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chizuru Ito
- Department of Functional Anatomy, Reproductive Biology and Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan.
| | - Hidenori Akutsu
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, 157-8535, Japan
| | - Ryoji Yao
- Department of Cell Biology, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research (JFCR) Cancer Institute, Tokyo, 135-8550, Japan
| | - Keiichi Yoshida
- Department of Functional Anatomy, Reproductive Biology and Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan
- Next-generation Development Center for Cancer Treatment, Osaka International Cancer Institute, Osaka, 541-8567, Japan
| | - Kenji Yamatoya
- Department of Functional Anatomy, Reproductive Biology and Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan
- Institute for Environmental & Gender-specific Medicine, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, 279-0021, Japan
| | - Tohru Mutoh
- Department of Functional Anatomy, Reproductive Biology and Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan
| | - Tsukasa Makino
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
| | - Kazuhiro Aoyama
- Materials and Structural Analysis (ex FEI), Thermo Ficher Scientific, Shinagawa Seaside West Tower 1F, 4-12-2 HigashiSinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 140-0002, Japan
- Research Center for Ultra-High Voltage Electron Microscopy, Osaka University, 7-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki, Osaka, 567-0047, Japan
| | - Hiroaki Ishikawa
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco 600 16th St., San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA
| | - Koshi Kunimoto
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Sachiko Tsukita
- Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences and Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Tetsuo Noda
- Director's Room, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research (JFCR) Cancer Institute, Tokyo, 135-8550, Japan
| | - Masahide Kikkawa
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
| | - Kiyotaka Toshimori
- Department of Functional Anatomy, Reproductive Biology and Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan.
- Future Medicine Research Center, Chiba University, Chiba, 260-8670, Japan.
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Moretti E, Collodel G, Belmonte G, Noto D, Giurisato E. Defective spermatogenesis and testosterone levels in kinase suppressor of Ras1 (KSR1)-deficient mice. Reprod Fertil Dev 2019; 31:1369-1377. [PMID: 30981290 DOI: 10.1071/rd18386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2018] [Accepted: 02/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of this study was to clarify the role of the protein kinase suppressor of Ras1 (KSR1) in spermatogenesis. Spermatogenesis in ksr1 -/- mice was studied in testicular tissue and epididymal spermatozoa by light and transmission electron microscopy and by immunofluorescence using antibodies to ghrelin and 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β-HSD). Blood testosterone levels were also assessed. ksr1 -/- mice showed reduced epididymal sperm concentration and motility as compared with wild- type (wt) mice. Testis tissue from ksr1 -/- mice revealed a prevalent spermatogenetic arrest at the spermatocyte stage; the interstitial tissue was hypertrophic and the cytoplasm of the Leydig cells was full of lipid droplets. Ghrelin signal was present in the seminiferous tubules and, particularly, in the interstitial tissue of wt mice; however, in ksr1 -/- mice ghrelin expression was very weak in both the interstitial tissue and tubules. On the contrary, the signal of 3β-HSD was weak in the interstitial tissue of wt and strong in ksr1 -/- mice. Testosterone levels were significantly increased in the blood of ksr1 -/- mice (P <0.05) as compared with wt. The results obtained reveal the importance of the KSR scaffold proteins in the spermatogenetic process. The study of the molecular mechanisms associated with spermatogenetic defects in a mouse model is essential to understand the factors involved in human spermatogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Moretti
- Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine, University of Siena, Policlinico Le Scotte, Viale Bracci, 14, 53100 Siena, Italy
| | - Giulia Collodel
- Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine, University of Siena, Policlinico Le Scotte, Viale Bracci, 14, 53100 Siena, Italy; and Corresponding author
| | - Giuseppe Belmonte
- Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine, University of Siena, Policlinico Le Scotte, Viale Bracci, 14, 53100 Siena, Italy
| | - Daria Noto
- Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine, University of Siena, Policlinico Le Scotte, Viale Bracci, 14, 53100 Siena, Italy
| | - Emanuele Giurisato
- Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine, University of Siena, Policlinico Le Scotte, Viale Bracci, 14, 53100 Siena, Italy; and Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
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Lehti MS, Sironen A. Formation and function of sperm tail structures in association with sperm motility defects†. Biol Reprod 2017; 97:522-536. [DOI: 10.1093/biolre/iox096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 103] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2017] [Accepted: 08/28/2017] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
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Byars SG, Huang QQ, Gray LA, Bakshi A, Ripatti S, Abraham G, Stearns SC, Inouye M. Genetic loci associated with coronary artery disease harbor evidence of selection and antagonistic pleiotropy. PLoS Genet 2017; 13:e1006328. [PMID: 28640878 PMCID: PMC5480811 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2016] [Accepted: 05/02/2017] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Traditional genome-wide scans for positive selection have mainly uncovered selective sweeps associated with monogenic traits. While selection on quantitative traits is much more common, very few signals have been detected because of their polygenic nature. We searched for positive selection signals underlying coronary artery disease (CAD) in worldwide populations, using novel approaches to quantify relationships between polygenic selection signals and CAD genetic risk. We identified new candidate adaptive loci that appear to have been directly modified by disease pressures given their significant associations with CAD genetic risk. These candidates were all uniquely and consistently associated with many different male and female reproductive traits suggesting selection may have also targeted these because of their direct effects on fitness. We found that CAD loci are significantly enriched for lifetime reproductive success relative to the rest of the human genome, with evidence that the relationship between CAD and lifetime reproductive success is antagonistic. This supports the presence of antagonistic-pleiotropic tradeoffs on CAD loci and provides a novel explanation for the maintenance and high prevalence of CAD in modern humans. Lastly, we found that positive selection more often targeted CAD gene regulatory variants using HapMap3 lymphoblastoid cell lines, which further highlights the unique biological significance of candidate adaptive loci underlying CAD. Our study provides a novel approach for detecting selection on polygenic traits and evidence that modern human genomes have evolved in response to CAD-induced selection pressures and other early-life traits sharing pleiotropic links with CAD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sean G. Byars
- Centre for Systems Genomics, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Qin Qin Huang
- Centre for Systems Genomics, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Lesley-Ann Gray
- Centre for Systems Genomics, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Andrew Bakshi
- Centre for Systems Genomics, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Samuli Ripatti
- Institute of Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Gad Abraham
- Centre for Systems Genomics, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Stephen C. Stearns
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Michael Inouye
- Centre for Systems Genomics, School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Pathology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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