Extra-mitochondrial citrate synthase controls cAMP-dependent pathway during sperm acrosome reaction in mice

Woojin Kang; Daiki Katano; Natsuko Kawano; Mami Miyado; Kenji Miyado

doi:10.17912/micropub.biology.000579

Extra-mitochondrial citrate synthase controls cAMP-dependent pathway during sperm acrosome reaction in mice

MicroPubl Biol. 2022 Jun 1:2022:10.17912/micropub.biology.000579. doi: 10.17912/micropub.biology.000579. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Woojin Kang¹, Daiki Katano^{1

2}, Natsuko Kawano², Mami Miyado^{3

4}, Kenji Miyado¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Reproductive Biology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, 2-10-1 Okura, Setagaya, Tokyo 157-8535, Japan.
² Department of Life Sciences, School of Agriculture, Meiji University, 1-1-1 Higashi-Mita, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 214-8571, Japan.
³ Department of Food and Nutrition, Beppu University, 82 Kita-Ishigaki, Beppu, Oita 874-8501, Japan.
⁴ Department of Molecular Endocrinology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, 2-10-1 Okura, Setagaya, Tokyo 157-8535, Japan.

Abstract

The sperm consumes adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to maintain the cellular function, viability, acrosome reaction (AR), and motility. Extra-mitochondrial citrate synthase (eCS) catalyzes citrate production in the sperm head, and thus regulates sperm function through ATP synthesis, similarly to CS. This study aimed to investigate how eCS regulates AR. Herein, acrosome-reacted (ARed) sperms were rarely detected on the zona pellucida, and spontaneous ARed sperm in eCs -deficient (KO) sperm remained at low levels even with induced capacitation. Retarded AR of eCs -KO sperm was enhanced by cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) treatment. In conclusion, eCS regulates AR via a cAMP-dependent pathway, which presumably contributes to sperm metabolism.