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MBC in Press, published online ahead of print April 26, 2006
Mol. Biol. Cell 10.1091/mbc.E05-11-1067

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Submitted on November 21, 2005
Revised on April 3, 2006
Accepted on April 19, 2006

The C. 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

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 C. 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 nemetode C. 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 Mog (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. Taken together, we propose that daz-1 plays a role upstream of the pathway for germ cell sex determination.

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




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