Male infertility can result from impaired sperm motility caused by multiple morphological abnormalities of the flagella(MMAF).Distinct projections encircling the central microtubules of the spermatozoal axoneme play p...Male infertility can result from impaired sperm motility caused by multiple morphological abnormalities of the flagella(MMAF).Distinct projections encircling the central microtubules of the spermatozoal axoneme play pivotal roles in flagellar bending and spermatozoal movement.Mammalian sperm-associated antigen 17(SPAG17)encodes a conserved axonemal protein of cilia and flagella,forming part of the C1a projection of the central apparatus,with functions related to ciliary/flagellar motility,skeletal growth,and male fertility.This study investigated two novel homozygous SPAG17 mutations(M1:NM_206996.2,c.829+1G>T,p.Asp212_Glu276del;and M2:c.2120del,p.Leu707*)identified in four infertile patients from two consanguineous Pakistani families.These patients displayed the MMAF phenotype confirmed by Papanicolaou staining and scanning electron microscopy assays of spermatozoa.Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(PCR)of patients’spermatozoa also revealed a significant decrease in SPAG17 mRNA expression,and immunofluorescence staining showed the absence of SPAG17 protein signals along the flagella.However,no apparent ciliary-related symptoms or skeletal malformations were observed in the chest X-rays of any of the patients.Transmission electron microscopy of axoneme cross-sections from the patients showed incomplete C1a projection and a higher frequency of missing microtubule doublets 1 and 9 compared with those from fertile controls.Immunofluorescence staining and Western blot analyses of spermatogenesis-associated protein 17(SPATA17),a component of the C1a projection,and sperm-associated antigen 6(SPAG6),a marker of the spring layer,revealed disrupted expression of both proteins in the patients’spermatozoa.Altogether,these findings demonstrated that SPAG17 maintains the integrity of spermatozoal flagellar axoneme,expanding the phenotypic spectrum of SPAG17 mutations in humans.展开更多
Spinocerebellar ataxias （SCAs） are a group of genetic disorders characterized by slowly progressive incoordina- tion of gait and are often associated with poor coordination of the hands, speech, and eye movements. F...Spinocerebellar ataxias （SCAs） are a group of genetic disorders characterized by slowly progressive incoordina- tion of gait and are often associated with poor coordination of the hands, speech, and eye movements. Frequently, atrophy of the cerebellum occurs. The genetic forms of ataxia are diagnosed by family history, physical examina- tion, neuroimaging, and molecular genetic testing. At present, 36 SCA subtypes including 27 pathogenic genes have been identified [1]. Different subtypes of SCAs have clear distribution differences among ethnic populations, and SCA8 is an infrequent entity worldwide, which has mostly been reported in Japanese, but has never been reported in Chinese [2]. SCAB involves bidirectional expression based on the total number of both the （CTA）n and （CTG）n expansion transcripts in ATXN8OS. The pathogenesis of this disorder is complex and the spectrum of clinical presentations is broad. It is predominantly characterized by drawn-out slowness of speech and gait instability, followed by slowly progressive ataxia, with disease onset typically occurring in adulthood [3]. How- ever, the lowest full-penetrance allele for SCA8 onset remains elusive and the current understanding of the phenotypic and genotypic features of SCA8 is limited. Since SCA8 has not yet been reported in the Chinese population and is scantily reported in a small proportion of pedigrees so far, clinical knowledge is still developing. Moreover, the boundary between the normal and patho- genic alleles of SCA8 is uncertain. Here we report the clinical and molecular genetic characteristics of 3 Chinese SCA8 families and have identified 51 CTA/CTG repeats within ATXN8OS, probably the shortest pathogenic allele for SCA8.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.82171599 and No.32270901)the National Key Research and Developmental Program of China(2022YFC2702601 and 2022YFA0806303)the Global Select Project(DJKLX-2022010)of the Institute of Health and Medicine,Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center.
文摘Male infertility can result from impaired sperm motility caused by multiple morphological abnormalities of the flagella(MMAF).Distinct projections encircling the central microtubules of the spermatozoal axoneme play pivotal roles in flagellar bending and spermatozoal movement.Mammalian sperm-associated antigen 17(SPAG17)encodes a conserved axonemal protein of cilia and flagella,forming part of the C1a projection of the central apparatus,with functions related to ciliary/flagellar motility,skeletal growth,and male fertility.This study investigated two novel homozygous SPAG17 mutations(M1:NM_206996.2,c.829+1G>T,p.Asp212_Glu276del;and M2:c.2120del,p.Leu707*)identified in four infertile patients from two consanguineous Pakistani families.These patients displayed the MMAF phenotype confirmed by Papanicolaou staining and scanning electron microscopy assays of spermatozoa.Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction(PCR)of patients’spermatozoa also revealed a significant decrease in SPAG17 mRNA expression,and immunofluorescence staining showed the absence of SPAG17 protein signals along the flagella.However,no apparent ciliary-related symptoms or skeletal malformations were observed in the chest X-rays of any of the patients.Transmission electron microscopy of axoneme cross-sections from the patients showed incomplete C1a projection and a higher frequency of missing microtubule doublets 1 and 9 compared with those from fertile controls.Immunofluorescence staining and Western blot analyses of spermatogenesis-associated protein 17(SPATA17),a component of the C1a projection,and sperm-associated antigen 6(SPAG6),a marker of the spring layer,revealed disrupted expression of both proteins in the patients’spermatozoa.Altogether,these findings demonstrated that SPAG17 maintains the integrity of spermatozoal flagellar axoneme,expanding the phenotypic spectrum of SPAG17 mutations in humans.
基金supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81301486 and81672095)
文摘Spinocerebellar ataxias （SCAs） are a group of genetic disorders characterized by slowly progressive incoordina- tion of gait and are often associated with poor coordination of the hands, speech, and eye movements. Frequently, atrophy of the cerebellum occurs. The genetic forms of ataxia are diagnosed by family history, physical examina- tion, neuroimaging, and molecular genetic testing. At present, 36 SCA subtypes including 27 pathogenic genes have been identified [1]. Different subtypes of SCAs have clear distribution differences among ethnic populations, and SCA8 is an infrequent entity worldwide, which has mostly been reported in Japanese, but has never been reported in Chinese [2]. SCAB involves bidirectional expression based on the total number of both the （CTA）n and （CTG）n expansion transcripts in ATXN8OS. The pathogenesis of this disorder is complex and the spectrum of clinical presentations is broad. It is predominantly characterized by drawn-out slowness of speech and gait instability, followed by slowly progressive ataxia, with disease onset typically occurring in adulthood [3]. How- ever, the lowest full-penetrance allele for SCA8 onset remains elusive and the current understanding of the phenotypic and genotypic features of SCA8 is limited. Since SCA8 has not yet been reported in the Chinese population and is scantily reported in a small proportion of pedigrees so far, clinical knowledge is still developing. Moreover, the boundary between the normal and patho- genic alleles of SCA8 is uncertain. Here we report the clinical and molecular genetic characteristics of 3 Chinese SCA8 families and have identified 51 CTA/CTG repeats within ATXN8OS, probably the shortest pathogenic allele for SCA8.
