doi:10.1369/jhc.5A6688.2005
Volume 53 (10): 1235-1243, 2005 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc. Stage-specific Expression of Dynein Light Chain-1 and Its Interacting Kinase, p21-activated Kinase-1, in Rodent Testes : Implications in Spermiogenesis
Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology (R-AW,RK) and Department of Experimental Radiation Oncology (MZ,MLM), UT-M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas Correspondence to: Rakesh Kumar, PhD, Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, Box 108, UT-M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030. E-mail: rkumar{at}mdanderson.org
Mammalian spermatogenesis is a complex process involving regulatory interactions of many gene products. In this study, we found that dynein light chain-1 (DLC1), a component of the dynein motor complex, is highly expressed in mouse and rat testes. Immunohistochemically detectable levels of DLC1 are observed specifically in spermatids in steps 916 in distinct subcellular compartments: in steps 911, DLC1 is predominantly localized in the nucleus; in steps 12 and 13, it is found in both nucleus and cytoplasm; and in step 1416, it is present exclusively in the cytoplasm. In addition, we found p21-activated kinase 1 (Pak1), a protein kinase that activates DLC1 by phosphorylating DLC1 at Serine 88, was also expressed during these stages of spermatogenesis. Pak1 was also expressed in Leydig cells, in preleptotene primary spermatocytes, and in round spermatids. The spermiogenic stagespecific expression of DLC1 suggests a role for DLC1 in chromatin condensation, spermatid shaping, and the final release of sperm from the spermatogenic epithelium. Further, Pak1 may also play a role in spermiogenesis by regulating DLC1 phosphorylation and, consequently, its function. (J Histochem Cytochem 53:12351243, 2005)
Key Words: DLC1 Pak1 testis spermatogenesis
SPERMIOGENESIS IS A COMPLEX PROCESS characterized by a series of morphological changes in which round spermatids mature into spermatozoa. The major steps include formation of the acrosome and flagellum, morphological changes of the nucleus, chromatin condensation, and shearing off of excess cytoplasm (Meistrich 1993
Cytoplasmic dynein is a large, multisubunit molecular motor complex that translocates cargoes toward the minus ends of microtubules. The dynein complex was originally shown to regulate the movement of chromosomes, the assembly and orientation of mitotic spindles, and nuclear migration (Steuer et al. 1990
Protein kinases, the enzymes responsible for the phosphorylation of a wide variety of proteins, are the largest class of signaling molecules known to regulate growth, development, and neoplastic transformation (Kumar and Wang 2002
Animals and Tissue Preparation Mice and rats used in the experiments were housed in the Institutional Animal Care Facility according to the National Institutes of Health and institutional guidelines for laboratory animals. Male mice of outbred genetic backgrounds (Black6xDBA) of 1, 5, 10, 15, 25, 30, and 90 days of age, and adult Lewis-Brown rats of 60 days of age were used for testis collection. For histological studies, testes were dissected and fixed in Bouin's solution for 212 hr depending on the size. After dehydration, the testes were embedded in Paraplast (Fisher Scientific Co.; Pittsburgh, PA) and further processed into 4-µm-thick sections. For Western blotting, the testes were directly homogenized in NP-40 lysis buffer. RNA was extracted with Trizol (Invitrogen; Carlsbad, CA) according to manufacturer's protocol.
RT-PCR and Northern and Western Blotting
Immunohistochemistry and Immunofluorescence Studies
Plasmids
Cell Culture, Transfection, and Luciferase Assay
DLC1 Highly Expressed in Mouse Testes Because the testis is a highly specialized organ in which cells are constantly dividing and differentiating, which involves chromatin condensation and the reshaping of germ cells, we examined the expression of DLC1, a critical component of the dynein motor complex, using Northern and Western blot analysis of multiorgan blots. This showed DLC1 was highly expressed in the testis (Figures 1A and 1B).
Developmental Regulation of DLC1 in Testes We next determined the expression profile of DLC1 during the postnatal development of murine testes. We performed RT-PCR analysis and found that DLC1 mRNA was expressed during all developmental stages (Figure 2A). However, Northern blotting revealed a substantial increase in DLC1 expression beginning on the 30th postnatal day, and the expression was even further elevated in 3-month-old adult mice (Figure 2B). Western blot analysis also revealed a corresponding increase in the DLC1 protein beginning on the 30th postnatal day (Figure 2C). In addition, there was an earlier, but smaller, increase in the levels of DLC1 protein in the murine testes between 5 and 10 days of age (Figure 2C).
In general, the biggest difference in murine testes between the 5th and 10th day is in the ratio of somatic cells to germ cells. On the 5th day, the germ cells, which are gonocytes transforming into type A spermatogonia at this stage of development, are few in number, whereas the somatic cells, mostly Sertoli cells, are actively proliferating and are dominant. By the 10th day, germ cells have undergone active proliferation, increased in numbers relative to the somatic cells, and have progressed to the leptotene spermatocyte stage (Bellve et al. 1997
Stage-specific Expression of DLC1
A careful examination of the staining pattern revealed a stage-specific pattern of DLC1 expression in adult mouse testes. In particular, we found that DLC1 staining first appeared in the nucleus of step 9elongating spermatids, the stage in which chromatin remodeling begins. Staining became progressively more intense as the spermiogenesis proceeded (Figure 4), because we observed the most intense DLC1 staining in the nucleus in step 12. Interestingly, some spermatid nuclei were positively stained in step 13, whereas DLC1 was predominantly cytoplasmic in other spermatids. From step 14 through the full maturation of spermatids, DLC1 protein was abundant only in the cytoplasm (Figure 4). Interestingly, somatic cells, such as Sertoli cells and Leydig cells, did not exhibit any DLC1-specific immunostaining.
We stained adult rat testes to determine whether the observed stage-specific pattern of DLC1 expression in mouse testes also occurred in other animal species. Interestingly, rat testes also showed the similar pattern of DLC1 expression as seen in mouse testes (Figure 5), with nuclear staining beginning at step 11 spermatids and the transition from nuclear to cytoplasmic staining occurring at step 14.
Pak1 Expression in Mouse and Rat Testes Recent data suggest that Pak1 regulates DLC1 function by phosphorylating Serine 88 (Vadlamudi et al. 2004
Modulation of DLC1 Expression by CREM and Pak1 Having found a stage-specific expression of DLC1 in rodent testes, we next attempted to elucidate the potential mechanism responsible for the observed expression pattern. After step 8, transcription gradually decreases and is totally inactivated at step 11 (Kierszenbaum and Tres 1975 controls the transcription of a set of genes in the round spermatids, and these transcripts are later translated to protein in the elongated spermatids where they perform their functions (Kistler et al. 1994 and Stat5a (Wang et al. 2002
To test this hypothesis, we first evaluated the expression of CREM
We found that DLC1 was expressed in a developmentally regulated and stage-specific manner in mouse and rat testes. Immunohistochemically, DLC1 protein initially appeared in the nucleus of the early elongating spermatid and later was expressed in the cytoplasm. We further found that Pak1 was coexpressed with DLC1 and present in round spermatids, preleptotene spermatocytes, and Leydig cells. In addition, Pak1, in collaboration with CREM, regulated DLC1 promoter activity.
Given that the testis is a highly dynamic organ in which cells are constantly proliferating and differentiating, it is very likely that dynein complex components are involved in these processes. Indeed, two other components of the dynein light chain, Tctex1 and Tctex2, have also been documented to be expressed in testes and found to be a component of sperm flagella. Tctex1 and Tctex2 are believed to be involved in the non-Mendelian transmission of the t-haplotype in mice (Criswell and Asai 1998
A time lag between transcription and translation is common in testes. It is reasonable to speculate that the transcription of these genes that encode proteins expressed in elongated spermatids must be inactivated in these spermatids, and, therefore, the coding mRNAs must be completed earlier. In addition to DLC1, protamines and transitional proteins are other good examples of tightly controlled protein expression (Hecht 1998 In summary, we found that DLC1 is highly expressed in elongated spermatids, initially in the nucleus and subsequently in the cytoplasm. The stage-specific expression of DLC1 in elongated spermatids suggests that DLC1 may be involved in chromatin condensation, morphologic changes in nucleus, the shearing off of excess cytoplasm, and release of sperm into the lumen.
The study was supported by NIH Grants CA-90970 and CA-80066 (RK), and in-part by Cancer Center (CORE) Support Grant NIH-NCI CA-16672. We thank Dr. Paolo Sassone-Corsi for kindly providing us with the CREM expression vector and antibody, and David Galloway for editing of the manuscript.
Received for publication March 14, 2005; accepted May 16, 2005
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