Chen Ya-Na, Wu Chun-Hong, Zheng Ya, Li Jing-Jing, Wang Jia-Lin, Wang Yu-Feng
Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei, P. R. China.
Arch Insect Biochem Physiol. 2015 Feb;88(2):144-54. doi: 10.1002/arch.21209. Epub 2014 Oct 22.
The ATPsyn-b encoding for subunit b of ATP synthase in Drosophila melanogaster is proposed to act in ATP synthesis and phagocytosis, and has been identified as one of the sperm proteins in both Drosophila and mammals. At present, its details of functions in animal growth and spermatogenesis have not been reported. In this study, we knocked down ATPsyn-b using Drosophila lines expressing inducible hairpin RNAi constructs and Gal4 drivers. Ubiquitous knockdown of ATPsyn-b resulted in growth defects in larval stage as the larvae did not grow bigger than the size of normal second-instar larvae. Knockdown in testes did not interrupt the developmental excursion to viable adult flies, however, these male adults were sterile. Analyses of testes revealed disrupted nuclear bundles during spermatogenesis and abnormal shaping in spermatid elongation. There were no mature sperm in the seminal vesicle of ATPsyn-b knockdown male testes. These findings suggest us that ATPsyn-b acts in growth and male fertility of Drosophila.
果蝇中编码ATP合酶亚基b的ATPsyn-b被认为在ATP合成和吞噬作用中发挥作用，并且已被鉴定为果蝇和哺乳动物中的精子蛋白之一。目前，其在动物生长和精子发生中的功能细节尚未见报道。在本研究中，我们使用表达可诱导发夹RNAi构建体和Gal4驱动子的果蝇品系敲低了ATPsyn-b。普遍敲低ATPsyn-b导致幼虫期生长缺陷，因为幼虫没有生长到比正常二龄幼虫更大的尺寸。在睾丸中敲低并没有中断向可存活成虫的发育进程，然而，这些雄性成虫是不育的。对睾丸的分析显示，精子发生过程中核束紊乱，精子细胞伸长时形状异常。ATPsyn-b敲低的雄性果蝇睾丸精囊中没有成熟精子。这些发现表明ATPsyn-b在果蝇的生长和雄性生育力中起作用。
