RELEVANCE OF CRISP PROTEINS FOR MALE FERTILITY AND EMBRYO DEVELOPMENT

SULZYK, VALERIA; REBAGLIATI, ABRIL; WEIGEL MUÑOZ M; CUASNICU P S

Congreso; Reunión Anual de Sociedades de Biociencia (SAIC, SAI, FAIC); 2022

Cysteine-Rich Secretory Proteins (CRISP1-4) are mainly expressed in the male reproductive tract and play key roles in mammalian fertilization. In spite of this, knockout (KO) mice for individual proteins are fertile, suggesting compensation among CRISP family members. Based on this, the aim of this work was to generate and characterize the reproductive phenotype of a triple KO lacking CRISP1/3/4 (TKO). For this purpose, DKO1/3 and CRISP4 KO colonies were crossbred, and fertility of TKO males analysed by mating them with control females. Results showed that TKO males exhibited fertility rates significantly lower than controls (4,13±2,43 vs 8,53±1,08; p