Male regulation of pregnancy revealed by a novel GPI-anchored protein

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K15691
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 42030:Animal life science-related
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Watanabe Hitomi 京都大学, 医生物学研究所, 助教 (80624056)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 受精 / 精子 / 精子表面タンパク質 / 体外受精 / マウス / GPIアンカー型タンパク質

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we obtained the following findings about a novel GPI-anchored protein, MuGPI-AP. 1) MuGPI-AP was found to be expressed in pachytene spermatocytes and round spermatids; 2) MuGPI-AP was expressed on the sperm surface immediately after sperm activation and rapidly disappeared; 3) MuGPI-AP KO sperm had no significant difference in in vitro fertilization rate compared to wild-type sperm; 4) When equal amounts of MuGPI-APKO and wild-type sperm were mixed and performed in vitro fertilization, almost all fertilized eggs were derived from KO sperm, indicating that KO sperm have higher fertilizing ability than wild-type sperm.

Free Research Field

生殖工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

不妊症の約３０％は原因不明の男性不妊によるものと考えられている。本研究から哺乳動物精子には受精を負に制御する分子が存在することが示唆され、新たな受精メカニズム解明の扉がひらかれた。これにより、将来的に新たな不妊症診断や治療法開発につながる可能性考えられ、社会的意義も大きいものと思われる。