ABSTRACT
Sperm acrosin is a serine protease that is involved in the recognition, binding and penetration of the sperm of the zona pellucida of the ovum. The bovine and porcine genes were cloned and characterized. Alignment of the intron/exon structure of both genes with the previously characterized human, rat and mouse genes and with other serine protease genes reveals that the coded sequence of the mammalian proacrosin is distributed in 5 exons and the splice junction types are identical to the exons encoding the catalytic domain of other serine protease genes. A comparison of the bovine, porcine, human, guinea pig, rabbit, rat and mouse preproprotein sequences shows that the catalytic domain is highly conserved, while the sequence of the proline rich domain is very variable among the species, ranging from 28.9% to 68.8%.
Subject(s)
Acrosin/chemistry , Acrosin/genetics , Conserved Sequence , Enzyme Precursors/chemistry , Enzyme Precursors/genetics , Amino Acid Sequence , Animals , Base Sequence , Binding Sites , Cattle , Cloning, Molecular , Codon, Initiator/genetics , Humans , Male , Molecular Sequence Data , Sequence Alignment , Sequence Analysis , Sequence Homology , Serine Endopeptidases/chemistry , Serine Endopeptidases/metabolism , Spermatozoa/chemistry , SwineABSTRACT
The proacrosin gene is transcribed in diploid spermatogenic cells and translated in haploid round spermatids. In order to evaluate sequences which are involved in proacrosin gene transcription, DNA-protein interactions were analyzed in 1.2 kb of the 5'flanking region of the rat gene. 13 protein binding sites were identified by DNase I footprinting using nuclear extracts from rat testis and brain, respectively. Five footprints (F1, F3, F7, TS2, TS3) which suggest an interaction with testis specific nuclear factors were further examined by gel retardation assays. Three testis specific binding sites (F1, F7, TS2, located 472bp, 697bp and 1004bp upstream of ATG, respectively) could be identified with both methods. The binding site F1 contains a motif which is similar to a testis specific footprint found in mouse protamine 1 gene. The nucleotide sequence of F7 contains the recognition motif of an isoform of the transcription factor GATA1, which is expressed in testis. Furthermore F1 and F7 are located in that part of the 5'flanking region of the proacrosin gene, which can direct proacrosin gene expression in germ cells of male transgenic mice.
Subject(s)
Acrosin/biosynthesis , Acrosin/genetics , DNA/metabolism , Enzyme Precursors/biosynthesis , Enzyme Precursors/genetics , Germ Cells/metabolism , Animals , Base Sequence , Binding Sites/drug effects , Chromatography, Gel , Deoxyribonuclease I , Diploidy , Gene Expression Regulation , Male , Molecular Sequence Data , Protein Binding , Rats , Testis/metabolism , Transcription, GeneticABSTRACT
Proacrosin, the zymogen form of the serine protease acrosin, is located within the acrosomal vesicle of mammalian spermatozoa and has been suggested to be involved in the fertilization process. In mouse and rat, expression of the proacrosin gene starts in pachytene spermatocytes and continues through the early stages of spermiogenesis. We have shown recently that 2.3 kilobase pairs of the 5'-flanking region of the rat proacrosin gene is sufficient to direct chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene expression in a germ cell-specific and developmental stage-specific manner in the mouse. Additional transgenic lines have been generated which include two deletions in the 5'-flanking region and a tyrosinase minigene as marker for gene expression. Transgenic mice bearing these two truncated fragments showed different patterns of reporter gene expression. Transgenic lines (BM, B3, B2) harboring the 397-base pair (bp) fragment (from 45 to 442 bp upstream of ATG) showed no chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) activity in either testis or other tissues, but analysis via reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction confirmed low levels of reporter gene transcription in testis. Transgenic line TC bearing a longer fragment of 877 bp (from 45 to 922 bp upstream of ATG) showed a reporter gene expression and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase enzyme activity which was identical to that found in mice harboring the 2.3-kilobase pair 5'-flanking region. The analysis of the CAT gene expression during testicular development showed diploid transcription and haploid translation. It can be concluded that all sequences required for a basic level of testis-specific transcription of transgene are present within the 397-bp fragment, and other DNA sequences located outside of the 397-bp fragment but present within the 877-bp fragment can function as enhancer elements. Two fragments within the 877-bp region were identified by gel retardation assays as binding exclusively to nuclear factor(s) from testis protein extracts. In both fragments we identified sequence elements which are present in the promoter region of the germ cell-specific genes for histone H2B and protamine 1, respectively.
