In vivo knock down of Gpat2 activates apoptotis

STRINGA, PABLO; HENNING, FLORENCIA; GARCIA FABIANI MARIA BELEN; PELLON MAISON MAGALI; GONZALEZ BARO, MARIA DEL ROSARIO; CATTANEO ELIZABETH; MONTANARO, MAURO ALDO

Congreso; 52 th Annual Meeting Argentine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; 2016

Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase 2 (GPAT2) is mainly expressed in spermatic cells, differing from the other GPAT family members (GPAT1, 3, and 4) which are abundant in lipogenic tissues. We have recently determined that mouse Gpat2 mRNA is transiently expressed in pachytene spermatocytes. To further understand the role of GPAT2 in spermatogenesis, we performed an in vivo lentivirus-mediated Gpat2 silencing in mouse testis. Histological analysis showed both a strong meiotic arrest at pachytene stage, a severe decrease in the number of mature sperm cells and depletion in germ cell number. In order to determine if this decrease in cell number is a consequence of increased apoptosis, we performed a qPCR-based array to measure the expression of apoptotic-related genes. Expression analysis revealed significant changes in the group of Gpat2 knockdown (KD) mice since 12 apoptotis-related genes (Atf5, Birc3, Bok, Casp4, Cflar, Dapk1, Fas, Ltbr, Prdx2, Tnfrsf1a, Cd40 and Tnfsf12) were significantly upregulated in Gpat2-silencedgerm cells, whereas only 2 genes (Pak7 and Rnf7) were downregulated (p