Lactate dehydrogenase a-like 6B is not essential for spermatogenesis and male fertility in mice

Xueying Huang; Zhicheng Wu; Peng Ren; Yi Wu; Changdong Lin; Hongwen Zhu; Peng Dai

doi:10.1016/j.gene.2024.149100

Lactate dehydrogenase a-like 6B is not essential for spermatogenesis and male fertility in mice

Gene. 2024 Nov 14:149100. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2024.149100. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xueying Huang¹, Zhicheng Wu¹, Peng Ren², Yi Wu³, Changdong Lin³, Hongwen Zhu⁴, Peng Dai⁵

Affiliations

¹ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Maternal and Fetal Medicine, Clinical and Translational Research Center of Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, Frontier Science Center for Stem Cell Research, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
² Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research, College of Engineering and Computing, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA.
³ Fundamental Research Center, Shanghai YangZhi Rehabilitation Hospital (Shanghai Sunshine Rehabilitation Center), School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
⁴ Precise Genome Engineering Center, School of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Maternal and Fetal Medicine, Clinical and Translational Research Center of Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, Frontier Science Center for Stem Cell Research, School of Life Sciences and Technology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 39549775
DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2024.149100

Abstract

Lactate is recognized as a principal energy substrate for male germ cells. Lactate dehydrogenases (LDHs) catalyze the reversible conversion between pyruvate and lactate, which are required for male fertility. Among them, lactate dehydrogenase A-like 6B (Ldhal6b) has been identified as a testis-specific LDH gene. However, its precise roles in spermatogenesis remain to be elucidated. In this study, we used a Ldhal6b knockout mouse model to assess its impact on spermatogenesis. Our findings reveal that Ldhal6b knockout mice exhibit normal development and no significant alterations in male fertility. Further, LDHAL6B is localized to mitochondria and closely associated with germ granules. Nevertheless, its depletion does not result in significant abnormalities in mitochondria, germ granules or impact piRNA biogenesis. We also observed alterations in the abundance of proteins related to mitochondrial metabolism in sperm from Ldhal6b knockout mice, align with its specific localization to mitochondria. Overall, our results indicate that Ldhal6b is dispensable for both mouse development and spermatogenesis under normal laboratory conditions.

Keywords: Germ granule; Ldhal6b; Male fertility; Mitochondria; Spermatogenesis; piRNA.