Mutation of Eif4g3, encoding a eukaryotic translation initiation factor, causes male infertility and meiotic arrest of mouse spermatocytes.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2010

Keywords

Animals, Cell Division, Cell Proliferation, Eukaryotic Initiation Factor-4G, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins, Infertility, Male, Male, Meiosis, Mice, Mice, Congenic, Mice, Inbred C3H, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Transgenic, Mutation, Missense, Phenotype, Spermatocytes, Spermatogenesis

Publisher

Company Of Biologists Limited

First Page

1699

Last Page

1707

JAX Source

Development 2010 May; 137(10):1699-707.

Abstract

The ENU-induced repro8 mutation was identified in a screen to uncover genes that control mouse gametogenesis. repro8 causes male-limited infertility, with failure of spermatocytes to exit meiotic prophase via the G2/MI transition. The repro8 mutation is in the Eif4g3 gene, encoding eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4, gamma 3. Mutant germ cells appear to execute events of meiotic prophase normally, and many proteins characteristic of the prophase-to-metaphase transition are not obviously depleted. However, activity of CDC2A (CDK1) kinase is dramatically reduced in mutant spermatocytes. Strikingly, HSPA2, a chaperone protein for CDC2A kinase, is absent in mutant spermatocytes in spite of the presence of Hspa2 transcript, consistent with the observation that the repro8 phenotype is markedly similar to the phenotype of the Hspa2 knockout. Thus, EIF4G3 is required for HSPA2 translation in spermatocytes, a finding that provides the first genetic evidence for selective translational control of meiotic exit in mammalian spermatocytes.

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