Acrosin is essential for sperm penetration through the zona pellucida in hamsters

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  • Michiko Hirose
    Bioresource Engineering Division, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, 305-0074 Ibaraki, Japan;
  • Arata Honda
    Bioresource Engineering Division, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, 305-0074 Ibaraki, Japan;
  • Helena Fulka
    Laboratory of Epigenetic Regulations, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the ASCR, the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague 142 20, Czech Republic;
  • Miwa Tamura-Nakano
    Communal Laboratory, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, 162-8655 Tokyo, Japan;
  • Shogo Matoba
    Bioresource Engineering Division, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, 305-0074 Ibaraki, Japan;
  • Toshiko Tomishima
    Bioresource Engineering Division, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, 305-0074 Ibaraki, Japan;
  • Keiji Mochida
    Bioresource Engineering Division, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, 305-0074 Ibaraki, Japan;
  • Ayumi Hasegawa
    Bioresource Engineering Division, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, 305-0074 Ibaraki, Japan;
  • Kiyoshi Nagashima
    Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 305-8572 Ibaraki, Japan;
  • Kimiko Inoue
    Bioresource Engineering Division, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, 305-0074 Ibaraki, Japan;
  • Masato Ohtsuka
    School of Medicine, Tokai University, Isehara, 259-1193 Kanagawa, Japan;
  • Tadashi Baba
    Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 305-8572 Ibaraki, Japan;
  • Ryuzo Yanagimachi
    Department of Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology, Institute for Biogenesis Research, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822;
  • Atsuo Ogura
    Bioresource Engineering Division, RIKEN BioResource Research Center, 305-0074 Ibaraki, Japan;

Description

<jats:title>Significance</jats:title> <jats:p>Mammalian oocytes are surrounded by the zona pellucida, a glycoprotein coat that protects the oocyte and embryo from mechanical damage during their preimplantation development within the oviduct. Fertilizing spermatozoa must penetrate the zona, but we do not know the exact mechanisms underlying this process. Sperm proteases were thought to work as zona lysins, but gene-knockout studies in mice did not support this assumption. In this study, we generated hamsters without acrosin, the major acrosomal protease, to examine its role in both in vivo and in vitro fertilization. Surprisingly, mutant male hamsters were completely infertile because their spermatozoa were unable to penetrate the zona. We thus demonstrated that, at least in hamsters, acrosin is essential for sperm penetration through the zona.</jats:p>

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