The Immunoglobulin-like Gene spe-45 Acts during Fertilization in Caenorhabditis elegans like the Mouse Izumo1 Gene.

ABSTRACT: The Caenorhabditis elegans spe-9 class genes, which show specific or predominant expression in the male germline, are indispensable for fertilization [1, 2]. However, due to the rapid evolution of genes involved in reproduction, we do not currently know if there are spe-9 class genes in mammals that play similar roles during fertilization to those found in C. elegans. In mice, the Izumo1 gene encodes a sperm-specific transmembrane (TM) protein with a single immunoglobulin (Ig)-like domain that is absolutely required for gamete fusion [3, 4]. In this study, we hypothesized that C. elegans has a new member of the spe-9 class genes coding for an IZUMO1-like protein. We screened C. elegans microarray data [5, 6] to identify male germline-enriched genes that encode membrane proteins with Ig-lik

SUBMITTER: Nishimura H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4691390 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature