Researchers from Japan found out that SPATA33 protein plays an important role in regulating the mobility of spermatozoa. According to researchers, the work of which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the protein could be a perspective goal for male oral contraceptives.
It is known that calcineurine is played an important role in regulating the mobility of sperm-dependent enzyme. The introduction of its inhibitors by male mice caused infertility for a short time – and therefore the substance is considered a potential goal when developing male oral contraceptives. However, calcineurine plays an important role for immunity, so before scientists there is a challenge to disclose the secret of the mechanism that regulates the activities of the enzyme directly in the spermatozoide.
Researchers from Osak University focused on the motive – the characteristic sequence of nucleotides – pxixit, which is often found in proteins binding to calcineurine. Of about 20 thousand proteins of mice, scientists have allocated eight proteins with this motive, which were expressed in the seeds. With the help of the CRISPR / CAS9 genome editing system, the researchers have disabled in some mice expression of genes encoding three early non-protein. The mice with the “off” spata33 protein showed a reduced mobility of sperm and other disorders, similar to those of their fellow men with a “disconnected” calcineurine.
It turned out that Spata33 regulates the location of calcineurine. When it turned off, the enzyme could not find his seat in the spermatozooid tail, which caused the latitive mobility of the latter.