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Updated: Jul 31, 2025
10:39
Functional Manipulation of Maternal Gene Products Using In Vitro Oocyte Maturation in Zebrafish
Published on: April 22, 2017
11.4K
A paternal protein facilitates sperm RNA delivery to regulate zygotic development
Dongdong Li1, Shijing Huang2, Yongping Chai1
1Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Sciences, Beijing Frontier Research Center for Biological Structure, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, School of Life Sciences and MOE Key Laboratory for Protein Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
Science China. Life Sciences
|May 9, 2023
Summary
The paternal protein SPE-11 forms structures that carry sperm RNAs into the egg, regulating early embryonic development in C. elegans. Loss of SPE-11 causes developmental defects by impacting essential gene expression.
Area of Science:
- Reproductive Biology
- Molecular Biology
- Developmental Biology
Background:
- Sperm deliver crucial factors like the paternal genome and centrosome during fertilization.
- The mechanism by which sperm RNA contributes to early embryonic development remains largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of the paternal protein SPE-11 in sperm RNA delivery and its impact on early embryonic development in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Main Methods:
- Observed SPE-11 protein localization during spermatogenesis in C. elegans.
- Reconstituted SPE-11 liquid-phase separation in vitro.
- Analyzed the effect of SPE-11 loss on sperm function, fertilization, and embryonic development.
- Quantified mRNA levels in spe-11 mutant embryos.
Main Results:
- SPE-11 assembles into granules and a perinuclear structure, localizing sperm RNAs during spermatogenesis.
- In vitro reconstitution showed SPE-11 condensates incorporate nematode RNA, promoting phase separation.
- Loss of SPE-11 did not impair sperm motility or fertilization but led to developmental defects and reduced mRNA levels of key embryonic genes.
Conclusions:
- SPE-11 undergoes liquid-phase separation, associating with sperm RNAs for delivery to the oocyte.
- This paternal protein-RNA complex plays a critical role in regulating early embryonic development by influencing gene expression essential for oocyte-to-embryo transition.
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