Shiming Gan, Shumin Zhou, Jinzhe Ma, Mengneng Xiong, Wenjing Xiong, Xu Fan, Kuan Liu, Yiqian Gui, Bei Chen, Beibei Zhang, Xiaoli Wang, Fengli Wang, Zhean Li, Wei Yan, Meisheng Ma, Shuiqiao Yuan
Teratozoospermia is a significant cause of male infertility, but the pathogenic mechanism of acephalic spermatozoa syndrome (ASS), one of the most severe teratozoospermia, remains elusive. We previously reported Spermatogenesis Associated 6 (SPATA6) as the component of the sperm head-tail coupling apparatus (HTCA) required for normal assembly of the sperm head-tail conjunction, but the underlying molecular mechanism has not been explored. Here, we find that the co-chaperone protein BAG5, expressed in step 9-16 spermatids, is essential for sperm HTCA assembly...
March 7, 2024: EMBO Reports