Functional analysis of the zinc transporter involved in male fertility.

2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23790284
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Environmental physiology (including Physical medicine and Nutritional physiology)
• Research Institution: The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: FUKUMURA Ryutaro 独立行政法人理化学研究所, 新規変異マウス研究開発チーム, 開発研究員 (90392240)
• Project Period (FY): 2011 – 2012
• Keywords: 亜鉛トランスポーター / 雄性不妊 / ENU

Research Abstract

This study revealed that murine zinc transporter Slc39a6 gene was essential for male fertility. The ENU mutant mice that carried a nonsense mutation on Slc39a6 gene exhibited sterility in male. The testis and spermatozoa morphologies of Slc39a6 mutant mice were normal. By in vitro fertilization, the decreased fertility of their spermatozoa was observed. Slc39a6 gene may act to the sperm fertility.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Comprehensive gene expression analyses in pluripotent stem cells of a planarian (2012)
  • Author(s): Shibata N, Fukumura R
  • Journal Title: Dugesia japonica, Int J Dev Biol Volume: 56 Pages: 93-102
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Mouse mutagenesis and disease models for neuropsychiatric disorders. (2011)
  • Author(s): Gondo Y, Fukumura R
  • Journal Title: Curr Topics in Behavioral Neurosci Volume: 7 Pages: 1-35
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Missense mutation of the reticulon-4 receptor alters spatial memory and social interaction in mice. (2011)
  • Author(s): Lazar N, Gondo Y, Fukumura R
  • Journal Title: Behavioural Brain Research Volume: 224 Pages: 73-79
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] Assessment of exome resequencing by NGS to detect genomewide heterozygous point mutations in the mouse (2011)
  • Author(s): Fukumura R, Gondo Y et al.
  • Organizer: 9th Int'l Workshop on Advanced Genomics (AGW)
  • Place of Presentation: Tokyo Japan 国際会議
  • Year and Date: 20110712-14
• [Presentation] Novel mutation discovery on ENU mouse mutagenesis by exome targeted re-sequencing (2011)
  • Author(s): Fukumura R, Gondo Y et al.
  • Organizer: Mouse Genetics 2011
  • Place of Presentation: Washington, DC USA 国際会議
  • Year and Date: 2011-06-24