Transcript levels of the soluble sperm factor protein phospholipase C zeta 1 (PLCZ1) increase through induced spermatogenesis in European eel

• Main Authors: Morini, Marina Ange Marie, Peñaranda, D.S., Vilchez Olivencia, Maria Carmen, Gallego Albiach, Victor, Nourizadeh-Lillabadi, Rasoul, Asturiano Nemesio, Juan Francisco, Weltzien, Finn-Arne, Pérez Igualada, Luz María
• Other Authors: Universitat Politècnica de València. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Animal - Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Animal, Universitat Politècnica de València. Departamento de Ciencia Animal - Departament de Ciència Animal, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Universitat Politècnica de València, Generalitat Valenciana, European Commission
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2015
• Subjects: envir; psy; European eel
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpba.2015.05.028; http://hdl.handle.net/10251/68535

S [EN] Activation at fertilization of the vertebrate egg is triggered by Ca2+ waves. Recent studies suggest the phospholipase C zeta (PLC zeta), a sperm-specific protein, triggers egg activation by an 1P3-mediated Ca2+ release and allow Ca2+ waves at fertilization. In the present study we cloned, characterized, and phylogenetically positioned the European eel PLC zeta (PLC zeta 1). It is 1521bp long, with 10 exons encoding an open reading frame of 506 amino acids. The amino acid sequence contains an EF-hand domain, X and Y catalytic domains, and a carboxy-terminal C2 domain, all typical of other PLC zeta orthologous. The tissue distribution was studied, and the gene expression was determined in testis during induced sexual maturation at three different thermal regimes. Also, brain and pituitary expression was studied through sex maturation at constant temperature. plc zeta was expressed in brain of male and female, in testis but not in ovaries. By first time in vertebrates, it is reported plc zeta 1 expression in the pituitary gland. Testis plc zeta 1 expression increased through spermatogenesis under all the thermal regimes, but being significantly elevated at lower temperatures. It was very low when testis contained only spermatogonia or spermatocytes, while maximum expression was found during spermiogenesis. These results support the hypothesis for an eel sperm-specific PLC zeta inducing egg activation, similarly to mammals and some teleosts, but different from some other teleost species, which express this protein in ovaries, but not in testes. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Funded by the SPERMOT project (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, MICINN; AGL2010-16009). M.C. Vílchez has a predoctoral grant from UPV PAID Programme (2011-S2-02-6521), Marina Morini has a predoctoral grant from Generalitat Valenciana (Programa Grisolía, GRISOLIA/2012/006), Victor Gallego has a postdoctoral grant (UPV; PAID-10-14), and David S. Peñaranda was a contract cofinanced by MICINN and UPV ...