Master's Program in Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
Laboratory Animal Resource Center, Trans-border Medical Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
Elife. 2021 May 11;10:e59759. doi: 10.7554/eLife.59759.
The male germ cells must adopt the correct morphology at each differentiation stage for proper spermatogenesis. The spermatogonia regulates its differentiation state by its own migration. The male germ cells differentiate and mature with the formation of syncytia, failure of forming the appropriate syncytia results in the arrest at the spermatocyte stage. However, the detailed molecular mechanisms of male germ cell morphological regulation are unknown. Here, we found that EXOC1, a member of the Exocyst complex, is important for the pseudopod formation of spermatogonia and spermatocyte syncytia in mice. EXOC1 contributes to the pseudopod formation of spermatogonia by inactivating the Rho family small GTPase Rac1 and also functions in the spermatocyte syncytia with the SNARE proteins STX2 and SNAP23. Since EXOC1 is known to bind to several cell morphogenesis factors, this study is expected to be the starting point for the discovery of many morphological regulators of male germ cells.
生精过程中，精子细胞必须在每个分化阶段采用正确的形态。精原细胞通过自身迁移来调节其分化状态。精子细胞通过形成合胞体而分化成熟，如果不能形成适当的合胞体，就会在精母细胞阶段停滞。然而，精子细胞形态调节的详细分子机制尚不清楚。在这里，我们发现 Exocyst 复合物的成员 EXOC1 对小鼠精原细胞和精母细胞合胞体的伪足形成很重要。EXOC1 通过使 Rho 家族小 GTPase Rac1 失活来促进精原细胞的伪足形成，并且与 SNARE 蛋白 STX2 和 SNAP23 一起在精母细胞合胞体中发挥作用。由于已知 EXOC1 可与几种细胞形态发生因子结合，因此本研究有望成为发现许多精子细胞形态调节因子的起点。
