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Deleted in Azoospermia Associated Protein 1 Shuttles Between Nucleus and Cytoplasm During Normal Germ Cell Maturation

AMIYA P. SINHA HIKIM

YANHE LUE

EDUARDO C. SALIDO

RONALD S. SWERDLOFF

From the ^* Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, and the Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California; and the Unidad de Investigacion, Hospital Universitario de Canarias and Department of Pathology, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.

Correspondence to: Dr Pauline Yen, Division of Medical Genetics, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, 1124 W Carson St, Torrance, CA 90502-2064. (e-mail: pyen{at}rei.edu).

DAZAP1 (Deleted in Azoospermia Associated Protein 1) was originally identified through its interaction with a putative male azoospermia factor, DAZ (Deleted in Azoospermia). It contains 2 RNA-binding domains (RBDs) and a proline-rich C-terminal portion and is expressed most abundantly in testes. We used RNA in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry to study the expression of Dazap1 in mouse testes. Dazap1 messenger RNA (mRNA) was present predominantly in immature germ cells, between the intermediate spermatogonia and preleptotene spermatocyte stages. The DAZAP1 protein was more abundant in germ cells of later stages of development and showed a dynamic subcellular distribution. High expression of DAZAP1 was first detected in midpachytene spermatocytes in stage VII tubules. In these cells, DAZAP1 was present in both the cytoplasm and the nuclei and was clearly excluded from the sex vesicles. In round spermatids, DAZAP1 was localized mainly in the nuclei, whereas in elongated spermatids, it redistributed to the cytoplasm. The subcellular distribution of DAZAP1 suggests that it shuttles between the nucleus and the cytoplasm and may play a role in mRNA transport and/or localization.

     Key words: Spermatogenesis, RNA-binding protein, gene expression

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