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Glycobiology Advance Access published online on January 19, 2005
Glycobiology, doi:10.1093/glycob/cwi043
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© Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved.
Received December 13, 2004
Revised January 14, 2005
Accepted January 15, 2005

Article

Testis-Specific Sulfoglycolipid, Seminolipid Is Essential for Germ Cell Function in Spermatogenesis

Yanlong Zhang 1, Yoshihiro Hayashi 2, Xinyao Cheng 3, Tae Watanabe 3, Xiangchun Wang 3, Naoyuki Taniguchi 3*, and Koichi Honke 4

1 Department of Molecular Genetics, Kochi University Medical School, Kochi 783-8505,; Department of Biochemistry, Osaka University Medical School, Osaka 565-0871
2 Department of Pathology, Kochi University Medical School, Kochi 783-8505
3 Department of Biochemistry, Osaka University Medical School, Osaka 565-0871
4 Department of Molecular Genetics, Kochi University Medical School, Kochi 783-8505,; CREST, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Japan

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Naoyuki Taniguchi, E-mail: proftani{at}biochem.med.osaka-u.ac.jp


  Abstract

More than 90% of the glycolipid in mammalian testis consists of a unique sulfated glyceroglycolipid, seminolipid. The sulfation of the molecule is catalyzed by a Golgi membrane-associated sulfotransferase, cerebroside sulfotransferase (CST). Disruption of the Cst gene in mice results in male infertility due to the arrest of spermatogenesis prior to the metaphase of the first meiosis. However, the issue of which side of the cell function, germ cells or Sertoli cells, is deteriorated in this mutant mouse remains unknown. The findings herein show that that the defect is in the germ cell side, as evidenced by a transplantation analysis, in which wild-type spermatogonia expressing the green fluorescent protein were injected into the seminiferous tubules of CST-null testis. The transplanted green fluorescent protein-positive cells generated colonies and spermatogenesis proceeded over meiosis in the mutant testis. The findings also clearly show that the seminolipid is expressed on the plasma membranes of spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids and spermatozoa , as evidenced by the immunostaining of wild-type testes using an anti-sulfogalactolipid antibody, Sulph-1 in comparison with CST-null testes as a negative control, and that seminolipid appears as early as day 8 of age, when Type B spermatogonia emerge.


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