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Schneider S, Kovacevic A, Mayer M, Dicke AK, Arévalo L, Koser SA, Hansen JN, Young S, Brenker C, Kliesch S, Wachten D, Kirfel G, Struenker T, Tüttelmann F, Schorle H. Cylicins are a structural component of the sperm calyx being indispensable for male fertility in mice and human. eLife 2023; 12:RP86100. [PMID: 38013430 PMCID: PMC10684152 DOI: 10.7554/elife.86100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Cylicins are testis-specific proteins, which are exclusively expressed during spermiogenesis. In mice and humans, two Cylicins, the gonosomal X-linked Cylicin 1 (Cylc1/CYLC1) and the autosomal Cylicin 2 (Cylc2/CYLC2) genes, have been identified. Cylicins are cytoskeletal proteins with an overall positive charge due to lysine-rich repeats. While Cylicins have been localized in the acrosomal region of round spermatids, they resemble a major component of the calyx within the perinuclear theca at the posterior part of mature sperm nuclei. However, the role of Cylicins during spermiogenesis has not yet been investigated. Here, we applied CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing in zygotes to establish Cylc1- and Cylc2-deficient mouse lines as a model to study the function of these proteins. Cylc1 deficiency resulted in male subfertility, whereas Cylc2-/-, Cylc1-/yCylc2+/-, and Cylc1-/yCylc2-/- males were infertile. Phenotypical characterization revealed that loss of Cylicins prevents proper calyx assembly during spermiogenesis. This results in decreased epididymal sperm counts, impaired shedding of excess cytoplasm, and severe structural malformations, ultimately resulting in impaired sperm motility. Furthermore, exome sequencing identified an infertile man with a hemizygous variant in CYLC1 and a heterozygous variant in CYLC2, displaying morphological abnormalities of the sperm including the absence of the acrosome. Thus, our study highlights the relevance and importance of Cylicins for spermiogenic remodeling and male fertility in human and mouse, and provides the basis for further studies on unraveling the complex molecular interactions between perinuclear theca proteins required during spermiogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Schneider
- Institute of Pathology, Department of Developmental Pathology, Medical Faculty, University of BonnBonnGermany
- Bonn Technology Campus, Core Facility 'Gene-Editing', Medical Faculty, University of BonnBonnGermany
| | - Andjela Kovacevic
- Institute of Pathology, Department of Developmental Pathology, Medical Faculty, University of BonnBonnGermany
| | - Michelle Mayer
- Institute of Pathology, Department of Developmental Pathology, Medical Faculty, University of BonnBonnGermany
| | - Ann-Kristin Dicke
- Institute of Reproductive Genetics, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
| | - Lena Arévalo
- Institute of Pathology, Department of Developmental Pathology, Medical Faculty, University of BonnBonnGermany
| | - Sophie A Koser
- Institute of Reproductive Genetics, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
| | - Jan N Hansen
- Institute of Innate Immunity, Biophysical Imaging, Medical Faculty, University of BonnBonnGermany
| | - Samuel Young
- Centre of Reproductive Medicine and Andrology, University Hospital Münster, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
| | - Christoph Brenker
- Centre of Reproductive Medicine and Andrology, University Hospital Münster, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
| | - Sabine Kliesch
- Centre of Reproductive Medicine and Andrology, University Hospital Münster, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
| | - Dagmar Wachten
- Institute of Innate Immunity, Biophysical Imaging, Medical Faculty, University of BonnBonnGermany
| | - Gregor Kirfel
- Institute for Cell Biology, University of BonnBonnGermany
| | - Timo Struenker
- Centre of Reproductive Medicine and Andrology, University Hospital Münster, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
| | - Frank Tüttelmann
- Institute of Reproductive Genetics, University of MünsterMünsterGermany
| | - Hubert Schorle
- Institute of Pathology, Department of Developmental Pathology, Medical Faculty, University of BonnBonnGermany
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Flint C, Förster K, Koser SA, Konrad C, Zwitserlood P, Berger K, Hermesdorf M, Kircher T, Nenadic I, Krug A, Baune BT, Dohm K, Redlich R, Opel N, Arolt V, Hahn T, Jiang X, Dannlowski U, Grotegerd D. Biological sex classification with structural MRI data shows increased misclassification in transgender women. Neuropsychopharmacology 2020; 45:1758-1765. [PMID: 32272482 PMCID: PMC7419542 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-020-0666-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Revised: 02/28/2020] [Accepted: 03/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Transgender individuals (TIs) show brain-structural alterations that differ from their biological sex as well as their perceived gender. To substantiate evidence that the brain structure of TIs differs from male and female, we use a combined multivariate and univariate approach. Gray matter segments resulting from voxel-based morphometry preprocessing of N = 1753 cisgender (CG) healthy participants were used to train (N = 1402) and validate (20% holdout N = 351) a support-vector machine classifying the biological sex. As a second validation, we classified N = 1104 patients with depression. A third validation was performed using the matched CG sample of the transgender women (TW) application sample. Subsequently, the classifier was applied to N = 26 TW. Finally, we compared brain volumes of CG-men, women, and TW-pre/post treatment cross-sex hormone treatment (CHT) in a univariate analysis controlling for sexual orientation, age, and total brain volume. The application of our biological sex classifier to the transgender sample resulted in a significantly lower true positive rate (TPR-male = 56.0%). The TPR did not differ between CG-individuals with (TPR-male = 86.9%) and without depression (TPR-male = 88.5%). The univariate analysis of the transgender application-sample revealed that TW-pre/post treatment show brain-structural differences from CG-women and CG-men in the putamen and insula, as well as the whole-brain analysis. Our results support the hypothesis that brain structure in TW differs from brain structure of their biological sex (male) as well as their perceived gender (female). This finding substantiates evidence that TIs show specific brain-structural alterations leading to a different pattern of brain structure than CG-individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claas Flint
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, A9, 48149 Münster, Germany ,grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Computer Science, University of Münster, Einsteinstraße 62, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Katharina Förster
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, A9, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Sophie A. Koser
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, A9, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Carsten Konrad
- grid.440210.30000 0004 0560 2107Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Agaplesion Diakonieklinikum, 27356 Rotenburg, Germany
| | - Pienie Zwitserlood
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Psychology, University of Münster, Fliednerstraße 21, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Klaus Berger
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, D3, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Marco Hermesdorf
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, D3, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Tilo Kircher
- grid.10253.350000 0004 1936 9756Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Igor Nenadic
- grid.10253.350000 0004 1936 9756Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Axel Krug
- grid.10253.350000 0004 1936 9756Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - Bernhard T. Baune
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, A9, 48149 Münster, Germany ,grid.1008.90000 0001 2179 088XDepartment of Psychiatry, Melbourne Medical School, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC Australia ,grid.1008.90000 0001 2179 088XThe Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC Australia
| | - Katharina Dohm
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, A9, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Ronny Redlich
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, A9, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Nils Opel
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, A9, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Volker Arolt
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, A9, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Tim Hahn
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, A9, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Xiaoyi Jiang
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Computer Science, University of Münster, Einsteinstraße 62, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Udo Dannlowski
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, A9, 48149, Münster, Germany.
| | - Dominik Grotegerd
- grid.5949.10000 0001 2172 9288Department of Psychiatry, University of Münster, Albert Schweitzer-Campus 1, A9, 48149 Münster, Germany
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