The role of acroblast formation during Drosophila spermatogenesis

Karolina Fari, Sandor Takacs, Daniel Ungar, Rita Sinka

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Protein recycling is important for maintaining homeostasis of the Golgi and its cisternae. The Vps54 (Scat) protein, a subunit of the GARP tethering complex, is a central factor in retrograde transport to the trans-Golgi. We found the scat1 mutant to be male sterile in Drosophila with individualization problems occurring during spermatogenesis. Another typically observed phenotype was the abnormal nuclear structure in elongated mutant cysts. When examining the structure and function of the Golgi, a failure in acrosome formation and endosome-Golgi vesicular transport were found in the scat1 mutant. This acrosome formation defect was due to a fault in the trans-Golgi side of the acroblast ribbon. When testing a mutation in a second retrograde transport protein, Fws, a subunit of the conserved oligomeric Golgi (COG) tethering complex, the acroblast structure, was again disrupted. fwsP caused a similar, albeit milder, acrosome and sperm individualization phenotype as the scat1 mutant. In the case of fwsP the cis side of the acroblast ribbon was dispersed, in-line with the intra-Golgi retrograde function of COG. Our results highlight the importance of an intact acroblast for acrosome formation, nuclear elongation and therefore sperm maturation. Moreover, these results suggest the importance of retrograde tethering complexes in the formation of a functional Golgi ribbon.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1102-1110
Number of pages9
JournalOpen Biology
Volume5
Early online date1 Aug 2016
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 1 Aug 2016

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© 2016, The Authors.

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