Nine genes abundantly expressed in the epididymis are not essential for male fecundity in mice

• DOI: 10.1111/andr.12621
• Publication Date: 2019-03-30T06:55:50Z
• Authors: T. Noda; N. Sakurai; K. Nozawa; S. Kobayashi; D. J. Devlin; M. M. Matzuk; M. Ikawa
• Keywords: Epididymis; Male; Mice, Knockout; 0301 basic medicine; 570; 0303 health sciences; sperm maturation; 610; Membrane Proteins; Original Articles; Spermatozoa; genetically modified mice; Sperm Maturation; Gene Knockout Techniques; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Fertility; Sperm Motility; genome editing; Animals; CRISPR-Cas Systems

Abstract Background Spermatozoa become competent for fertilization during transit through the epididymis. As spermatozoa from proximal caudal epididymis can fertilize eggs, proteins caput and corpus are required sperm maturation. Objectives Microarray analysis identified that more than 17,000 genes expressed in epididymis; however, few of these demonstrate expression restricted to To analyze epididymis‐enriched gene function vivo, we generated knockout ( KO ) mutations nine abundantly region Materials methods mice were using CRISPR /Cas9 system. The histology was observed with hematoxylin eosin staining. males caged wild‐type females 3–6 months check fertility. Results We individual mutant mouse lines having indel Pate1 , Pate2 or Pate3 . also deleted coding regions Clpsl2, Epp13 Rnase13 independently. Finally, 150 kb encoding Gm1110 Glb1l2 Glb1l3 generate a triple line. Histology morphology all comparable control males. mated delivered pups at numbers as Discussion conclusion revealed dispensable male fecundity. /Cas9‐mediated generation accelerates screening potential functions reproduction.