The Ankyrin Repeat Domain 49 (ANKRD49) Augments Autophagy of Serum-Starved GC-1 Cells through the NF-κB Pathway

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 10; no. 6; p. e0128551
• Main Authors: Wang, Hai-long, Fan, Sha-sha, Pang, Min, Liu, Yi-heng, Guo, Min, Liang, Jun-bo, Zhang, Jian-lin, Yu, Bao-feng, Guo, Rui, Xie, Jun, Zheng, Guo-ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 04.06.2015; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Ankyrin Repeat; Ankyrins; Apoptosis; Autophagy; Autophagy - drug effects; Biochemistry; Cell death; Cell Line; Culture Media, Serum-Free - pharmacology; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental - drug effects; Gene Knockdown Techniques; Genes; Immunoglobulins; Infertility; Laboratory animals; Lung cancer; Male; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Molecular biology; Molecular Sequence Data; Muscle Proteins - chemistry; Muscle Proteins - genetics; Muscle Proteins - metabolism; NF-kappa B - metabolism; NF-κB protein; Nuclei; Phagocytosis; Physiology; Plasmids; Prophase - drug effects; Proteins; Rodents; Signal Transduction - drug effects; siRNA; Spermatids; Spermatocytes; Spermatogenesis; Spermatogenesis - drug effects; Spermatogonia; Spermatozoa - drug effects; Spermatozoa - metabolism; Starvation; Testes; Testis - drug effects; Testis - metabolism; Time Factors; Transcription, Genetic - drug effects; Vaccines; Beijing China; United States > US; China; Japan
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128551

The ankyrin repeat domain 49 (ANKRD49) is an evolutionarily conserved protein highly expressed in testes. However, the function of ANKRD49 in spermatogenesis is unknown. In this study, we found that ANKRD49 resides primarily in nucleus of spermatogonia, spermatocytes and round spermatids. ANKRD49 overexpression augments starvation-induced autophagy in male germ GC-1 cells whereas shRNA knockdown of ANKRD49 attenuates the autophagy. Inhibition of NF-κB pathway by its inhibitors or p65 siRNA prevents the ANKRD49-dependent autophagy augmentation, demonstrating that ANKRD49 enhances autophagy via NF-κB pathway. Our findings suggest that ANKRD49 plays an important role in spermatogenesis via promotion of autophagy-dependent survival.