Impaired fertility and spermiogenetic disorders with loss of cell adhesion in male mice expressing an interfering Rap1 mutant.

ABSTRACT: The guanosine trisphosphatase Rap1 serves as a critical player in signal transduction, somatic cell proliferation and differentiation, and cell-cell adhesion by acting through distinct mechanisms. During mouse spermiogenesis, Rap1 is activated and forms a signaling complex with its effector, the serine-threonine kinase B-Raf. To investigate the functional role of Rap1 in male germ cell differentiation, we generated transgenic mice expressing an inactive Rap1 mutant selectively in differentiating spermatids. This expression resulted in a derailment of spermiogenesis due to an anomalous release of immature round spermatids from the seminiferous epithelium within the tubule lumen and in low sperm counts. These spermiogenetic disorders correlated with impaired fertility, with the transgenic ma

SUBMITTER: Aivatiadou E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1838989 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature