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Originally published as MBC in Press, 10.1091/mbc.E05-11-1067 on April 26, 2006

Vol. 17, Issue 7, 3147-3155, July 2006

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The Caenorhabditis elegans Homologue of Deleted in Azoospermia Is Involved in the Sperm/Oocyte Switch

Muneyoshi Otori, Takeshi Karashima, and Masayuki Yamamoto

Department of Biophysics and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan

Submitted November 21, 2005; Revised April 3, 2006; Accepted April 19, 2006
Monitoring Editor: Marianne Bronner-Fraser

The Deleted in Azoospermia (DAZ) gene family encodes putative translational activators that are required for meiosis and other aspects of gametogenesis in animals. The single Caenorhabditis elegans homologue of DAZ, daz-1, is an essential factor for female meiosis. Here, we show that daz-1 is important for the switch from spermatogenesis to oogenesis (the sperm/oocyte switch), which is an essential step for the hermaphrodite germline to produce oocytes. RNA interference of the daz-1 orthologue in a related nematode, Caenorhabditis briggsae, resulted in a complete loss of the sperm/oocyte switch. The C. elegans hermaphrodite deficient in daz-1 also revealed a failure in the sperm/oocyte switch if the genetic background was conditional masculinization of germline. DAZ-1 could bind specifically to mRNAs encoding the FBF proteins, which are translational regulators for the sperm/oocyte switch and germ stem cell proliferation. Expression of the FBF proteins seemed to be lowered in the daz-1 mutant at the stage for the sperm/oocyte switch. Conversely, a mutation in gld-3, a gene that functionally counteracts FBF, could partially restore oogenesis in the daz-1 mutant. Together, we propose that daz-1 plays a role upstream of the pathway for germ cell sex determination.

This was published online ahead of print in MBC in Press (http://www.molbiolcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1091/mbc.E05-11-1067) on April 26, 2006.

Address correspondence to: Masayuki Yamamoto ( yamamoto{at}biochem.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp)




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