The heat shock protein family gene Hspa1l in male mice is dispensable for fertility

• Published in: PeerJ (San Francisco, CA) Vol. 8; p. e8702
• Main Authors: Wang, Xin, Xie, Wenxiu, Yao, Yejin, Zhu, Yunfei, Zhou, Jianli, Cui, Yiqiang, Guo, Xuejiang, Yuan, Yan, Zhou, Zuomin, Liu, Mingxi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States PeerJ. Ltd 23.03.2020; PeerJ, Inc; PeerJ Inc
• Subjects: Andrology; Apoptosis; Biochemistry; CRISPR; Epididymis; Fluorescent antibody technique; Gene expression; Gene knockout; Genes; Genetic research; Heat; Heat shock proteins; House mouse; Hsp70 protein; HSPA1L; Immunofluorescence; Infertility; Laboratory animals; Male infertility; Mutants; Mutation; Phenotypes; Polymerase chain reaction; Proteins; Sperm; Spermatogenesis; Stress response; Testes; China; United States > US; HSPA1L; Spermatogenesis; Gene knockout; Male infertility
• ISSN: 2167-8359; 2167-8359
• DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8702

Heat shock protein family A member 1 like ( ) is a member of the 70kD heat shock protein ( ) family. HSPA1L is an ancient, evolutionarily conserved gene with a highly conserved domain structure. The gene is highly abundant and constitutively expressed in the mice testes. However, the role of in the testes has still not been elucidated. -mutant mice were generated using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Histological and immunofluorescence staining were used to analyze the phenotypes of testis and epididymis. Apoptotic cells were detected through TUNEL assays. Fertility and sperm motilities were also tested. Quantitative RT-PCR was used for analyzing of candidate genes expression. Heat treatment was used to induce heat stress of the testis. We successfully generated knockout mice. mice exhibited normal development and fertility. Further, mice shown no significant difference in spermatogenesis, the number of apoptotic cells in testes epididymal histology, sperm count and sperm motility from mice. Moreover, heat stress does not exacerbate the cell apoptosis in testes. These results revealed that HSPA1L is not essential for physiological spermatogenesis, nor is it involved in heat-induced stress responses, which provides a basis for further studies.