Open Access

ARTICLE

Es-ATG7 is required for spermatogenesis of Eriocheir sinensis and modulates p53-dependent apoptosis in germ cells

SHUANG-LI HAO, FEI-DA NI, BANG-HONG WEI, ZHEN-FANG LI, TONG YANG, WAN-XI YANG^*

The Sperm Laboratory, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

* Corresponding Author: Wan-xi Yang. Email:

BIOCELL 2021, 45(4), 971-984. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2021.015178

Received 27 November 2020; Accepted 24 February 2021; Issue published 22 April 2021

Abstract

Spermatogenesis is a complicated and highly regulated male gamete differentiation process that begins with the proliferation and differentiation of spermatogonia to the release of the mature spermatozoa. The autophagy-related gene atg7 has been reported as closely related to spermatogenesis and communication of Sertoli cell-germ cells in mice, including acrosome biogenesis, sperm flagellum development, and ectoplasmic specialization assembly. However, the function of es-ATG7 and its molecular regulatory mechanism during spermatogenesis in Crustacea remain largely unknown. Here, we cloned and identified es-atg7 from the testes of the Chinese mitten crabs Eriocheir sinensis and found that the expression of es-atg7 was relatively high in testes through semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The dynamic localization of es-ATG7 detected by immunofluorescence may convey information about its role in the spermatogenesis of E. sinensis. Furthermore, a knockdown of es-atg7 revealed that the malformed sperm with irregular sperm shape or loose nuclear cup and germ cell apoptosis were increased significantly. Accompanying this, we found an up-regulated expression of es-p53 during spermatogenesis in es-atg7 knockdown groups. Altogether, our results indicate that es-ATG7 plays an essential role during spermatogenesis of E. sinensis, and we demonstrated that es-ATG7 acts as an antagonist for p53-dependent apoptosis induction in this process.

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