Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.
Arch Insect Biochem Physiol. 2019 Dec;102(4):e21612. doi: 10.1002/arch.21612. Epub 2019 Sep 3.
Zn72D encodes the Drosophila zinc finger protein Zn72D. It was first identified to be involved in phagocytosis and indicated to have a role in immunity. Then it was demonstrated to have a function in RNA splicing and dosage compensation in Drosophila melanogaster. In this study, we discovered a new function of Zn72D in male fertility. We showed that knockdown of Zn72D in fly testes caused an extremely low egg hatch rate. Immunofluorescence staining of Zn72D knockdown testes exhibited scattered spermatid nuclei and no actin cones or individualization complexes (ICs) during spermiogenesis, whereas the early-stage germ cells and the spermatocytes were observed clearly. There were no mature sperms in the seminal vesicles of Zn72D knockdown fly testes, although a few sperms could be found close to the seminal vesicle. We further showed that many cytoskeleton-related genes were significantly downregulated in fly testes due to Zn72D knockdown. Taken together these findings suggest that Zn72D may have an important function in spermatogenesis by sustaining the cytoskeleton-based morphogenesis and individualization thus ensuring the proper formation of sperm in D. melanogaster.
Zn72D 编码果蝇锌指蛋白 Zn72D。它最初被鉴定为参与吞噬作用，并被表明在免疫中有作用。然后，它被证明在 RNA 剪接和果蝇中的剂量补偿中有功能。在这项研究中，我们发现了 Zn72D 在雄性生育力中的一个新功能。我们表明，在果蝇睾丸中敲低 Zn72D 会导致极低的卵孵化率。Zn72D 敲低睾丸的免疫荧光染色显示，在精子发生过程中，精子细胞核散在，没有肌动蛋白锥体或个体化复合物（ICs），而早期的生殖细胞和精母细胞则清晰可见。Zn72D 敲低果蝇睾丸的精囊中没有成熟的精子，尽管在精囊附近可以发现一些精子。我们进一步表明，由于 Zn72D 敲低，许多与细胞骨架相关的基因在果蝇睾丸中显著下调。综上所述，这些发现表明 Zn72D 可能通过维持基于细胞骨架的形态发生和个体化来在精子发生中发挥重要功能，从而确保果蝇中精子的正常形成。
