RABL-regulated pathways: a new tale in sperm function

• 来源期刊: 亚洲男性学杂志（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2013,（1）
• 页码范围: 87-88
• 页数: 2页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.1038/aja.2012.137

摘要

Mammalian sperm have a specialized motile flagellum to provide the unidirectional propulsion required to achieve fertilisation of the egg.Defective flagella development and/or function is a significant cause of reduced sperm motility (asthenospermia) and male infertility.Over the past decade,a growing number of distinct proteins with crucial roles in sperm flagella have been identified by genetic loss-of-function approaches in mice,in which the deliberately engineered or spontaneous mutation of individual genes have lead to anomalies in sperm tail assembly,structure and function.In a recent study published in PLoS Genetics,Lo et al.have utilized random mutagenesis induced by the chemical mutagen N-ethyl-nitrosourea to identify a previously uncharacterized protein (RABL2) in murine sperm flagella required for male fertility.