Lack of Cytosolic Carboxypeptidase 1 Leads to Subfertility due to the Reduced Number of Antral Follicles in pcd3J-/- Females

PLoS One. 2015 Oct 9;10(10):e0139557. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139557. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Females homozygous for the Purkinje cell degeneration mutation (pcd) are fertile, although the success rate is much lower than in the wild type. We performed detailed analysis of reproductive abnormalities of pcd females. The number of oocytes produced following exogenous gonadotropin treatment was much lower in pcd3J-/- females than in pcd3J+/+ females. Furthermore, the estrous cyclicity of pcd3J-/- females according to the appearance of the vagina was almost undetectable comparing to that of the wild type. Histological analyses and follicle counting of 4- and 8-week-old pcd3J-/- ovaries showed an increase in the number of secondary follicles and a decrease in the number of antral follicles, indicating that AGTPBP1/ CCP1 plays an important role in the development of secondary follicles into antral follicles. Consistent with a previous analysis of the pcd cerebellum, pcd3J-/- ovaries also showed a clear increase in the level of polyglutamylation. Gene expression analysis showed that both oocytes and cumulus cells express CCP1. However, Ccp4 and CCP6, which can compensate the function of CCP1, were not expressed in mouse ovaries. Failure of microtubule deglutamylation did not affect the structure and function of the meiotic spindle in properly aligning chromosomes in the center of the nucleus during meiosis in pcd3J-/- females. We also showed that the pituitary-derived growth and reproduction-related endocrine system functions normally in pcd3J-/- mice. The results of this study provide insight into additional functions of CCP1, which cannot be fully explained by the side chain deglutamylation of microtubules alone.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Chromosomes, Mammalian / genetics
  • Chromosomes, Mammalian / metabolism
  • Cumulus Cells / metabolism*
  • Cumulus Cells / pathology
  • Female
  • Fertility*
  • GTP-Binding Proteins / deficiency*
  • Meiosis*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Oocytes / metabolism*
  • Oocytes / pathology
  • Purkinje Cells / metabolism
  • Purkinje Cells / pathology
  • Serine-Type D-Ala-D-Ala Carboxypeptidase / deficiency*
  • Spindle Apparatus / genetics
  • Spindle Apparatus / metabolism

Substances

  • Serine-Type D-Ala-D-Ala Carboxypeptidase
  • Agtpbp1 protein, mouse
  • GTP-Binding Proteins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science & Technology Development (No. PJ009103) and the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 (No. PJ01113003), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea, and the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (2015R1A5A1009701). Nagasundarapandian Soundrarajan was supported by the 2014 KU Brain Pool of Konkuk University (2014KUBP).