The significance of ODF1 for male germ cell differentiation and motility by generation and analysis of ODF1 deficient mice

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Sigrid Hoyer-Fender
• Subject Area: Cell Biology
• Term: from 2009 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 144775074

The sperm tail cytoskeleton has got increasing attention in male infertility diagnostics over the years as sperm tail associated defects may impair sperm motility eventually resulting in infertility. Unfortunately, morphological defects of the sperm tail mainly have not been traced back to their molecular cause largely because analysis of the protein components that build up the sperm tail cytoskeleton was hampered by their insolubility. Cytoskeletal structures exclusively found in the sperm tails of vertebrates are the outer dense fibers (ODFs) whose main components have been identified as ODF1 and ODF2. Due to its α-crystallin domain ODF1 was identified as a small heat shock protein and thus renamed into HSPB10 suggesting a putative chaperone function. To analyse ODF1 function in formation of the sperm tail cytoskeleton and its impact for stability and motility we have started to knock out ODF1. Objective of the proposal is the generation of heterozygous and homozygous ODF1 deficient mice and their phenotypic analyses. Additionally, we will ask whether ectopic expression of ODF1 might affect the formation of ODF2 fibers, the primary cilium, or the centrosome cycle in cultured cells.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants